SUDDEN ADVANCE FROM COMRADE XI

Chinese President Xi Jinping made a three-day state visit to Riyadh in December at the invitation of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia. He attended the summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders and the first Sino-Arab summit attended by the heads of several Arab countries. The outcome of the visit means an ambitious arrival of China to the Middle East, which will boost its strategic partnership with the Arab world and strengthen Beijing's position in global politics and economics.

Cooperation to promote common interests

The successful development of Sino-Saudi dialogue is the driving force behind the expansion of relations between China and the Arab world. Beijing has recently become the largest investor in the Saudi economy and its leading trade partner. At the same time, Saudi Arabia has enjoyed being one of the major investors in the Chinaese economy since 2005 (ranking 12th). This impressive leap in the development of Sino-Saudi relations, as well as Sino-Arab relations in general, was possible thanks to cooperation in the energy sector. Eventually, the energy cooperation between Beijing, Riyadh and other Arab exporters of the Persian Gulf was a special topic of discussions that Xi Jinping had with his Arab counterparts in Saudi Arabia. Yet, the outcome of the visit was truly impressive not only in the context of energy cooperation.

The joint Chinese-Saudi statement says that the parties agreed to give priority to mutual relations, firmly support each other in defending national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and be jointly committed to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other states. In particular, Riyadh reaffirmed its commitment to the principle of One China. The most important point is the invitation to Saudi Arabia to join China's Belt and Road Energy and Investment Partnership Initiative, as well as Beijing's endorsement of Riyadh's Vision 2030, the Middle East Green Initiative and the Saudi Green Initiative. The latter means that both China and Saudi Arabia advocate significant and early reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by developed countries and the provision of effective financial and technological assistance to developing countries to address climate issues.

The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement reflects the expected practical steps to expand the Sino-Saudi relations. The document provides for the implementation of 34 investment projects covering various sectors, including green energy, information technology, transport and logistics, construction and real estate, medicine.

For Beijing the cooperation with Riyadh is an important element of its geopolitical thrust into the Middle East and the Arab world. In his keynote address at the GCC summit, which includes Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, President Xi Jinping made a categorical statement: "We are trying to ensure comprehensive cooperation to promote common Chinese-Arab interests”. He mentioned that China's trade turnover with all Arab countries exceeded $300 billion and expressed Beijing's willingness to continue working to "build a common future with Arab countries". President Xi also discussed with the Arab leaders the prospects of establishing a Sino-Arab free trade zone, increasing oil and liquefied natural gas imports from the Persian Gulf to create in five years a ‘new model of extensive energy cooperation’ between China and the GCC countries. He even suggested that the Arab leaders deepen cooperation in the aerospace sector by allowing Arab astronauts to fly to a Chinese orbital space station to conduct joint scientific experiments.

Between the West and the Middle Kingdom

Obviously, the declared rapprochement between China and the Arab countries is based on Beijing’s intention to increase its influence in Asia and in world affairs in general, the Arab states want to diversify the political and economic prospects of the Arab world with Beijing's assistance. The initial mutual message is support for a 'multipolar world', which was declared at the China-GCC summit.

Thus, experts believe that the US and the rest Western countries are not interested in the strong Sino-Arab dialogue. Such a powerful entry of China into the Middle East risks weakening the regional positions of the US, primarily in the areas of trade, economy and technology. A possible Chinese offer to the Arab states to sell oil and gas on the Shanghai Stock Exchange for Yuan, which is in fact a direct invitation to join the fight for the de-dollarisation of the global economy, can lead to the same result. Let alone Riyadh's diversification of its energy sources, including for the Chinese market, can only increase Washington's dissatisfaction with the Saudi energy policy. The dissatisfaction reached its peak with Saudi Arabia's refusal to meet the US demand to increase oil production both itself and through OPEC+.

The Sino-Saudi deal to build high-tech facilities in Saudi Arabian cities is also likely to draw criticism from Washington. The US fears that the Chinese company Huawei, which is involved in the deal, can damage US interests in the Gulf region in terms of the security of the latest technology.

Another point of contact between Beijing and Riyadh in which the US is objectively not interested is the agreement to further develop cooperation and coordination in the defense sector. Moreover, China and Saudi Arabia intend to include a nuclear deal in bilateral defense cooperation, such as the plans to jointly use peaceful atom and renewable energy sources. Previously, US intelligence has repeatedly reported on Saudi’s likely breakthrough in the nuclear technology with the assistance of China. Washington has denounced this as contrary to the nuclear non-proliferation regime. This assumption is based on the increasing intention of the Saudis to acquire nuclear weapons in case the international agreement on Iran's—Riyadh's arch-enemy—nuclear programme ultimately collapses.

As to political issues, Washington and the West in general are unhappy with the Sino-Arab calls in the signed document "to avoid politicising the issue of human rights and using it as an instrument of pressure on other states and interference in their internal affairs" and “to refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of other states under the pretext of preserving democratic governance". Furthermore, the leaders of China and the Arab states of the Persian Gulf explicitly condemned double standards and Islamophobia in the Western policy.

Nevertheless, it would be an exaggeration to assume that China's cooperation with Saudi Arabia and other Arab states will lead to the complete collapse of traditional partnership and even alliance between the US and the Gulf region. Not only the US, but also the Arab countries are not interested in this. Thus, when the White House administration stated that they did not ask Riyadh to choose between Washington or Beijing, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded that Saudi-Chinese cooperation did not mean abandoning cooperation with the US.

Yet the Arab monarchies openly demonstrate that they are not happy with the hegemony of the US and the West on the international arena. And their main ally in this context is the key strategic adversary of the West, China, which is consistently strengthening its position as one of the leading global centres of power.