President Xi Jinping just concluded his first visit to the Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia in six years, at the China-Arab Summit in Riyadh. As part of
efforts to boost China's relations with the Gulf region, President Xi met with
King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and
attended two summits with Arab and Gulf leaders. The visit followed an
invitation from Saudi Arabia's King Salman "to bolster historic ties and
strategic partnership between the two countries," according to the Saudi
Press Agency (SPA).
The visit took place within a shifting international environment marked by the crisis in Ukraine, concerns over energy security, the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and fears of widespread economic recession impacting the world economy. As such, the main focus of the summit meetings was to see how existing economic and technological relations could be further capitalized on, as these relations have witnessed tremendous growth over the past years.
For Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region, continued economic diversification plans take an absolute precedence in their policy planning and China, as well as much of the rest of Asia, is seen as a key component in terms of existing vision plans coming to fruition. In this context, the determination to expand business and economic ties will not be sidelined by potential political complications, for example, relations with the U.S. In spite of current U.S. suggestions that broadening GCC-China ties could come with consequences for the U.S.-Saudi or U.S.-GCC relationship, GCC countries will move forward with enhancing their relations with China.
Upon his arrival, President Xi expressed his optimism, stating that already "practical cooperation between the two countries yielded fruitful results in [various] fields.” President Xi emphasized that China and Saudi Arabia continue to “closely coordinate and communicate” regarding regional and international affairs. In addition to a “comprehensive strategic partnership agreement” that President Xi and King Salman signed on December 8, a total of 34 investment agreements were signed in areas such as green hydrogen, solar energy, information, cloud services, transportations, logistics, medical industries, housing, and construction.
(Image 2: Reuters, December 8, 2022)
The agreed partnership welcomed more Chinese companies to take an
active part in the industrialization process of Saudi Arabia, including the
construction of major infrastructure and energy projects, and enhance
cooperation in such areas such as the automobile industry, science and
technology, chemical industry, and mining.
Specific agreements signed by officials during the visit included
an “alignment plan” between China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Saudi Arabia’s
Vision 2030, an agreement with China’s Huwaei on cloud computing and high-speed
internet complexes in Saudi Arabia, as well as the building of an aluminum
plant signed between the Saudi Investment Ministry and Shandong Innovation
Group.
During his talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Thursday,
President Xi stated that Beijing agreed to add Saudi Arabia to its list of
group travel destinations and increase cultural and people-to-people
interactions. On the political front, there was an agreement that the
respective heads of state would meet every two years. Moreover, the Kingdom
stated its appreciation to China for supporting Saudi Arabia to become a
dialogue partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as well as to enhance
communication and coordination with China on multilateral occasions, such as
the G20 and BRICS.
On foreign policy and security issues, the summit meeting did not
cover a lot of ground. In terms of security concerns over Iran, both countries
agreed on the need to “strengthen joint cooperation to ensure the peaceful
nature of Iran’s nuclear program” and for Tehran to respect “principles of
good-neighborliness.” Interestingly, Iranian officials immediately criticized
China for issuing such “unfriendly” statements, in particular, the joint
statement from the China-GCC summit in which the leaders "affirmed their support
for all peaceful efforts" of the United Arab Emirates to reach a solution
with Iran on the subject of the three islands of Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and
Abu Musa.
No agreements were signed in terms of possible military sales
despite the fact that for Saudi Arabia and the GCC states, China is seen as a
market from where some military equipment is accessible. This is due in large
part to political considerations GCC states have that are tied to their Western
arms suppliers. Nevertheless, as the regional arms market becomes increasingly
dynamic, there are ample opportunities for China to grow its defense role
there.
The lack of focus on larger
strategic issues underlined the existing limitations in the Gulf’s ties to
China. There is a clear awareness among the GCC states that China is neither
capable nor willing to replace the US security role in the region. In fact, in
a document released by China’s Foreign Ministry on “Sino-Arab Cooperation in a
New Era” just ahead of the summit meetings, there is no mention of China being
interested in filling any potential vacuum left by the United States. Instead,
the main focus continues to be placed on such themes such as stability,
predictability and balance.
The bottom line is that while trade relations for the GCC states
point eastward, key security and investment ties remain with the West. Given
its own many domestic issues that require attention, China has at this stage no
interest in any confrontation with the US with an emphasis on avoiding conflict
that could threaten its own national security. An example of this can be seen
during the G20 summit where President Xi distanced himself from Russia and its
war in Ukraine,advocating a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
The GCC's Asian-centric orientation is nevertheless apparent. A
certain pivot towards Asia is to be expected and the development of ties will
continue. Whether relations become more strategic, however, will depend
specifically on how the US-Saudi relationship develops in the near term. If
managed properly, the GCC’s eastward focus will remain limited mostly to
economic and business ties. President Xi's visit to Riyadh and attending the
summit with regional Arab leaders this week did not change this equation.
*Layla Ali is a Researcher at the Gulf Research Center
