China, Arab region links strengthen
Xi’s Riyadh trip helps to foster deeper economic bonds, BRI ties, experts say
When President Xi Jinping made his headline-grabbing trip to Saudi Arabia in December, the visit was not only about reinvigorating China’s ties with the country and the wider Arab region, it was also about how other countries would stand to benefit from the upgraded relations between the two sides.
Xi arrived in Riyadh to attend the first China-Arab States Summit and the China-Gulf Cooperation Council Summit and paid a state visit to Saudi Arabia from Dec 7 to 10. There, he called for strengthening their synergies between development strategies and promoting high-quality Belt and Road Initiative cooperation, a megainfrastructure vision that he launched in 2013.
Umer Karim, an associate fellow at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh, told China Daily that since Saudi Arabia “is situated on the crossroads of Asia, Africa and the Mediterranean”, any development in the country remains vital for China’s BRI projects traversing the three regions.
Karim said the recent Chinese engagement with the Arab world in Riyadh “managed to hit three targets in one go”. Apart from the Saudi-China meeting, he cited China’s “strategic” meeting with the Arab world, and the summit between Gulf Cooperation Council states.
“Connecting with the leadership of the wider Arab world within the heart of Arab politics, Riyadh will eventually translate into further strengthening bonds of political trust between the two sides and further economic cooperation mainly through BRI-related investments and infrastructure development, mainly across northern Africa,” said Karim.
There were 17 cooperation mechanisms under the framework of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum. Over the past decade, trade had grown by $100 billion, with the total exceeding $300 billion, and over 200 Belt and Road projects have been carried out, benefiting nearly 2 billion people.
Karim said the GCC countries — Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait — were already engaged in fields like energy, maritime trade and smart technologies. Some Chinese firms in the United Arab Emirates, he said, may be interested in connecting their BRI ventures in East Africa with GCC states, for example.
In a study titled “China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Saudi Vision 2030: A Review of the Partnership for Sustainability” in May 2021, Riyadh-based think tank King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center noted that new opportunities for Sino-Saudi ties are emerging
as climate action had become more important for global growth.
In 2020, both countries took significant steps to combat carbon emissions as Saudi Arabia proposed a circular carbon economy framework to promote sustainable growth, while China pledged to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.
The study concluded that Saudi Arabia and China can work together to create a carbon circular economy framework within the BRI.
Mehmet Rakipoglu, a Gulf analyst and researcher at Sakarya University Middle East Institute in Turkiye, considers the BRI a “complementary project” to the GCC’s national strategies.
A case in point is Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, an economic blueprint unveiled in 2016 by Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, to diversify his nation’s reliance on oil.
“As all the world witnessed during President Xi’s visit (in Riyadh), there were plenty of agreements signed for advancing the mutual cooperation,” Rakipoglu told China Daily.
In Riyadh, Xi and Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud co-signed an agreement on the comprehensive strategic partnership. Saudi and Chinese companies signed more than 30 investment agreements, Saudi Press Agency reported.
“It should be expected that we would see a greater Saudi interest in BRI flagship projects in countries around the kingdom. Saudi Arabia already had expressed (interest) in joining the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. So, we may see a renewed Saudi interest in that venture,” said Karim.
The CPEC, a BRI flagship project itself, is a framework of regional connectivity that is seen to also benefit Iran, Afghanistan, and the
Central Asian region.
A report by China Three Gorges South Asia Investment Ltd has revealed that 27 projects worth $19 billion have so far been completed. At least 63 more projects with investments of $35.2 billion are scheduled to be completed by 2030.
Ebrahim Hashem, AsiaGlobal Fellow at the Hong Kong-based Asia Global Institute, believes that there will be more momentum behind the BRI as Chinese borders reopen and the two sides deepen their partnerships in all fields, particularly energy, technology, trade, infrastructure and security.
He said that as both sides are planning to harmonize their strategies, there will be better alignment between China and Saudi Arabia, adding more impetus and strategic force behind the projects being implemented jointly within the BRI framework.