BEIJING // The Gulf region may offer a model of how the United States and China can cooperate to promote global stability, according to a new study.
Despite the growth of China's economic interests in the Gulf, the report, titled "China and the Gulf: Implications for the United States", suggests Beijing has little appetite for rivalling the United States militarily in the region.
Instead, according to a paper included in the study, China has often tried to avoid disagreement with the US over the region, despite tensions over sanctions against Iran, and both have interests in regional stability.
This suggests a blueprint for how they can cooperate elsewhere to promote common security interests, wrote Jon Alterman, the director of the Middle East Programme at the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, in the report.
"Such cooperation would have the benefit not only of enhancing security in the Middle East, but also of creating a pattern of security cooperation between the United States and China that would infuse a host of other engagements around the world," he said.
The report, published by the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Centre for Scholars, details how China's need for oil to fuel its economic growth has seen it forge close energy alliances with among others Iran, Saudi Arabia and, increasingly, Iraq.
The UAE is a key player in ties with China, with trade between the two countries expected to reach US$100 billion (Dh367.3bn) a year in 2020. This may be close to 30 per cent of total China-GCC trade at the time.
The report outlines how China has focused on deepening energy ties with Saudi Arabia rather than Iran, which faces increasing international isolation over its nuclear programme. Saudi Arabia is the largest supplier of oil to China and, since 2009, China has been the largest market for Saudi Arabian oil.
The report notes that Chinese oil companies are investing more heavily in the oil sector in Iraq than in Iran, to the extent that Tehran is struggling to meet output targets.
China has "no toxic legacy of colonialism, no unwarranted scrutiny of domestic issues" and Chinese companies make no demands in terms of environmental or labour standards when operating in the region, wrote Emile Hokayem, an author of the report and a senior fellow for regional security at the Bahrain office of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Mr Alterman said: "Contemporary Middle Eastern views of China are similar to Middle Eastern views of the United States a century ago, when many in the Middle East looked to the United States to rescue them from European imperialism."
Just as Middle East-US relations are far removed from those a century ago, Mr Hokayem predicted that as China's economic ties with the Middle East grow, "relations will inevitably become more complex".
For the moment, the report indicated China was content to operate in a Middle East reliant on the security umbrella provided by the US.
Although China is developing its naval capabilities, Mr Hokayem said China was not likely to divert resources from the Asia-Pacific to project its capabilities into the Gulf region.
However, Seo Jeong-Min, a specialist on ties between East Asia and the Middle East at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in South Korea, said military links would eventually strengthen.
"China will some day proceed to the areas of political and military alliances," Mr Seo said, but at the moment this was not the focus.
dbardsley@thenational.ae
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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5
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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SPECS
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Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
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'Worse than a prison sentence'
Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.
“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.
“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”
RESULTS
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RESULTS
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Cheeseburger%20ingredients
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Day 5, Dubai Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Given the problems Sri Lanka have had in recent times, it was apt the winning catch was taken by Dinesh Chandimal. He is one of seven different captains Sri Lanka have had in just the past two years. He leads in understated fashion, but by example. His century in the first innings of this series set the shock win in motion.
Stat of the day This was the ninth Test Pakistan have lost in their past 11 matches, a run that started when they lost the final match of their three-Test series against West Indies in Sharjah last year. They have not drawn a match in almost two years and 19 matches, since they were held by England at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi in 2015.
The verdict Mickey Arthur basically acknowledged he had erred by basing Pakistan’s gameplan around three seam bowlers and asking for pitches with plenty of grass in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. Why would Pakistan want to change the method that has treated them so well on these grounds in the past 10 years? It is unlikely Misbah-ul-Haq would have made the same mistake.