China and the Middle East: More Than Oil (original) (raw)
China-Middle East Relations: The role of Oil in China's Foreign Policy
China has shown a growing interest in the Middle East now that its economy replies too heavily on coal. This paper serves the purpose of outlining the what China stands to gain in it's quest for more control over the middle eastern oil and why this may be of growing concern to power balance in the region.
WANTED – China’s search for Middle Eastern oil
The paper traces back the history of relations between the People’s Republic of China and the Middle East since mid-twentieth century in order to undercover the trends and factors behind Chinese policy towards the region. It aims to present and analyze the economic and political interests the PRC may have when pursuing its Middle Eastern strategy, principally noticeable in its relations with Saudi Arabia and Iran. The oil dependency is indicated as the main factor in Chinese presence in the region due to the fact that in 1993 the PRC’s oil consumption exceeded domestic production and China was forced to seek its fuel abroad. Consequently, lack of historical involvement in the Middle East, lack of colonial past and pragmatism are perceived as the strongest assets of Chinese foreign policy which allowed to develop and maintain close political and economic ties with the Persian Gulf states. The paper predicts further increase of Chinese engagement with the region, seeing it as geopolitical benefit and possibility to balance the American influence in both regional and global dimensions.
CHINA'S EVOLVING MIDDLE EAST ROLE
ISDP POLICY PAPERS, 2016
Under the leadership of Xi Jinping, China has sought to further consolidate and diversify its relations in the Middle East. This comes on the back of the Chinese lead-er’s Middle East tour in January and the articulation of a new “Arab Policy” unveiled in the same month. Focused on energy, trade, and transport, China is seeking to maximize its economic ties and interests in the region. In particular, Middle Eastern oil supplies remain critical for China’s con-tinued economic development. However, becoming more engaged in the region brings with it a number of implica-tions, not least that Beijing will find it necessary to balance its ties between Sunni and Shia countries.
Following major economic, societal, and governmental changes in 1978 that resulted in the adoption of a free market economy and a pragmatic approach to foreign policy, China’s presence in the global energy market is continuously growing as it rises to the top in economic power and success. Since these reforms, Sino-Middle East relations have normalized as China continues work closely with the Middle East with the intention of expanding and developing an effective, multilateral business/trade relationship. This paper will discuss specific events within both China and the Middle East, such as the major policies born out of the 1978 Chinese reform and Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, and how they helped set the stage for increased and improved relations with the Middle East. It will also discuss in detail China’s relationships with specific, major oil producing countries such as Iran, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia, as well as the implications and effects of China’s rising economic power and an analysis of the future of China in the global economy. Many people predicted that China would rise to become the second largest economy in the world just under the United States by 2020. Given that it has reached this level as early as 2017, it is highly plausible that China’s economy could surpass that of the U.S. within the next couple of decades if its approach to foreign policy remains consistent. However, the question remaining is whether or not China will be able to maintain its pragmatic, “offend-no-one” approach to its trade relations as its involvement in the global economy deepens, especially when dealing with the unstable political environment of the Middle East.
The Impact of China on the Middle East
Journal of Developing Societies, 2007
This article assesses the impact of the fast economic growth and expansion of China on the Middle East. It examines the evolution of the profi le of the Middle East during 1995-2004 in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, energy resources and potential, commodity structure of the foreign trade of the Middle East, its main trade partners and China's role in the international trade of the region. The importance of the Middle East for China's economy from 1995 to 2004 is discussed, including trade in goods and services, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and supplies of energy and raw materials. Trade competition and/or collaboration between the Middle East and China, especially since the accession of China to the World Trade Organization (WTO), are also considered. Finally, China's impact on the Middle East is analysed by looking into trade, capital fl ows, labour fl ows, energy and raw materials and competition in the domestic and international markets with respect to goods and services. Indirect effects of China as a global player on the Middle East may also play a role, mainly through the big player in the Middle East: the United States.
China's Long Way to the Gulf Region. (pp: 108-123)
Baku Dialogues, 2021
Energy cooperation has been a key aspect of growing bilateral cooperation between China and the Arab states of the Gulf region for the past several years. Since 1996, China has become a net importer of crude oil and, as the second-largest energy consumer in the world after the United States, is now the thirdlargest importer of oil after the United States and Japan. Therefore, it should not come as a surprise that China is eying a deep and strategic partnership with the states of a region that sits on top of the world’s largest proven crude oil and natural gas reserves.
CHINA AND THE MIDDLE EAST: VENTURING INTO THE MAELSTROM
China’s increasingly significant economic and security interests in the Middle East have several impacts. It affects not only its energy security but also its regional posture, relations with regional powers as well as the United States, and efforts to pacify nationalist and Islamist Uighurs in its north-western province of Xinjiang. Those interests are considerably enhanced by China’s One Belt, One Road initiative that seeks to patch together a Eurasian land mass through inter-linked infrastructure, investment and expanded trade relations. Protecting its mushrooming interests is forcing China to realign its policies and relationships in the region. As it takes stock of the Middle East and North Africa’s volatility and tumultuous, often violent political transitions, China feels the pressure to acknowledge that it no longer can remain aloof to the Middle East and North Africa’s multiple conflicts. China’s long-standing insistence on non-interference in the domestic affairs of others, refusal to envision a foreign military presence and its perseverance that its primary focus is the development of mutually beneficial economic and commercial relations, increasingly falls short of what it needs to do to safeguard its vital interests. Increasingly, China will have to become a regional player in competitive cooperation with the United States, the dominant external actor in the region for the foreseeable future. The pressure to revisit long-standing foreign and defence policy principles is also driven by the fact that China’s key interests in the Middle East and North Africa have expanded significantly beyond the narrow focus of energy despite its dependence on the region for half of its oil imports.1 Besides the need to protect its investments and nationals, China has a strategic stake in the stability of countries across the Eurasian landmass as a result of its One Belt, One Road initiative and the threat of blowback in Xinjiang of unrest in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. China has signalled its gradual recognition of these new realities with the publication in January 2016 of an Arab Policy Paper, the country’s first articulation of a policy towards the Middle East and North Africa. But, rather than spelling out specific policies, the paper reiterated the generalities of China’s core focus in its relations with the Arab world: economics, energy, counter-terrorism, security, technical cooperation and its One Belt, One Road initiative. Ultimately however, China will have to develop a strategic vision that outlines foreign and defence policies it needs to put in place to protect its expanding strategic, geopolitical, economic, and commercial interests in the Middle East and North Africa; its role and place in the region as a rising superpower in the region; and its relationship and cooperation with the United States in managing, if not resolving conflict.
Asian Politics & Policy, 2012
In this article, the authors examine China's evolving energy strategy in the Middle East, particularly in the three countries that have the largest energy reserves and form the epicenter of the U.S.-China rivalry: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Iraq. With $3 trillion in foreign currency reserves, Beijing is increasingly using its cash to secure future long-term access to energy in the region. Through energy-backed loans, as well as upstream and downstream joint ventures, China's policy banks and its national oil companies are pumping up the volume of oil and gas that will flow from the Middle East to the mainland in the 21st century. At the same time, Beijing is embedding itself deeply in the economies of these major oil-producing states through expanded bilateral trade involving multiple sectors of the Chinese economy. Beijing's monetary strength, coupled with its lack of military involvement and political baggage in the region, has China poised to benefit from its expansive access to the region's energy resources. This article critically examines the political implications of China's energy acquisition strategy, the potential for conflict as well as cooperation with the United States, and the possibility of the realignment of great powers in the Middle East.
The New Silk Road: China’ Energy Policy and Strategy in the Mena Region
2017
China is in dire need of energy resources to sustain its growth. Inrecent years, China has been turning more to Saudi Arabia and Iran in the MiddleEast as well as Sudan in North Africa as trade partners to secure its energy supplyand fuel its increasing growth. This paper explores China’s energy policy in theMiddle East and North African (MENA) region by studying three cases: Sudanin North Africa, and Saudi Arabia and Iran in the Middle East. Data was obtainedfrom review of relevant literature. It is found out that China’s oil policy is verymuch driven by the Beijing Consensus. China has applied an equity ownershipstrategy to have more control over oil flows as a shield against price fluctuationsand to reduce supply interruption. Civil unrest and conflicts in the MENA regionthreatens to disrupt China’s energy supply channels, which implies that Chinashould work for peace in the MENA region to achieve its sustainable energysupply.