Qatar has enough resources and allies to withstand Saudi- led blockade

The ongoing crisis between Qatar and several Arab countries seems to have no quick solution as the rival parties hold their unyielding ground.

On June 5, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates ( UAE) and Bahrain, as well as several other Muslim nations including Egypt, cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar and closed off sea, air and land links to the tiny Gulf country.

The Saudi- led alliance accuses Doha of sponsoring terrorism, harboring extremists, interfering in their internal affairs and cultivating warm ties with Iran, a Saudi rival. Doha has dismissed the claims as unjustified.

Refusing to buckle under the pressure from the Saudi- led alliance, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al- Thani stated Monday it would not hold talks with any of those countries, unless they lift the sanctions first.

At the same time, the Saudi- led alliance is drafting a list of complaints about Doha, which they say should be fully addressed by Qatar before resum- ing diplomatic ties with it.

After cutting its diplomatic ties with Doha and imposing sanctions, Riyadh immediately spelled out its conditions for resuming diplomatic relations with Qatar.

Among the demands are calls on Doha to cease interference in internal affairs of other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council ( GCC), expel anti- GCC elements, ban its media from inciting against the GCC and Egypt, stop supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and harboring its members, refuse to grant citizenship to opposition figures in GCC countries, and ban religious people from engaging in anti- GCC activities in mosques and through the media.

Saudi Arabia has apparently set a high bar for ending the current Gulf crisis, as Doha might find that Riyadh’s conditions are hard to fulfill.

To make things worse, media reports revealed that Saudi Arabia intends to present more demands as preconditions for ending the blockade, including extraditing leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood to Egypt and shutting down the Al- Jazeera TV station.

Despite heightened pressure from the political and economic blockade imposed by its Arab neighbors, Qatar, a gas- rich nation, has refused to back down so far.

One the one hand, Doha has portrayed itself as an innocent victim of this crisis, in a bid to win sympathy from the world.

While keeping relatively calm, Doha has criticized the sanctions as unfair, unfounded and inhumane, while insisting that as a GCC member it respects other nations and has never meddled in their domestic affairs.

Sheikh Mohammed said that Qatar’s foreign policies are unnegotiable and no one has the right to interfere in its internal affairs.

On the other hand, Qatar, one of the richest countries in the world, has enough capability to offset the economic blockade. The tiny Gulf nation not only is the top exporter of natural gas, but also ranks third in natural gas reserve in the world. For example, about 40 percent of natural gas used by the UAE is supplied by Qatar. Thus, the UAE has been relatively cautious in dealing with the dispute with Doha.

With foreign currency reserves totaling $ 43.6 billion and a sovereign fund of $ 335 billion, Qatar has more than enough financial capability to import goods from other countries to break the blockade by its neighbors.

Moreover, Qatar is not completely isolated in the region. Turkey, as a regional power that shares some of Qatar’s ideological views and has close economic ties with Doha, has openly sided with Qatar.

Turkey, as well as Iran, a Saudi rival, has provided humanitarian aid to Qatar to help it fight the blockade. Two GCC members, Kuwait and Oman, have not joined the Saudi- led alliance.

Other countries in the region, such as Iraq, Morocco, Algeria and Tunis, have remained neutral or refused to cut their ties with Qatar.

The author is a writer with the Xinhua News Agency. The article first appeared in Xinhua. opinion@ globaltimes. com. cn