Real test of China as Middle East power broker yet to come

BEIJING: China is becoming a power broker in the Middle East, however, the real test of Beijing is yet to come, reported Global Strat View. The Chinese-brokered landmark accord between Saudi Arabia and Iran after a thaw of seven years since 2016 formalized the agreement to restore diplomatic relations and bury the hatchet between the two countries.

Rather than giving credence to any claims that China has brokered peace, we should view it as yet another exercise of the Chinese propaganda machine, said Global Strat View. The global perception of China taking a more active stance in world politics may be something of an exaggeration. China is happy to take advantage of enhancing trade cooperation with all parties while not taking any sides on sensitive issues.

China has long been adept at the art of declaring victory to end sensitive issues and giving world powers an excuse to step down from confrontation. At the heart of the matter, maintaining common interests has always been an effective way to whitewash over long-standing contradictions. If the struggling and rich economies of the middle east allow China to replicate its debt traps in the region and churn out shoddy infrastructure, the inequalities and resultant increase in oppression from authoritarian regimes will increase instability, reported Global Strat View.

With Saudi Arabia becoming the second largest recipient of the Belt and Road Initiative investment globally, China is increasingly aligning its goals with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). While it is impossible to predict the region's geopolitics, Iran's increasing dissatisfaction with Beijing is becoming more apparent. It is yet to become clear to what extent Chinese investment can smooth over these hurdles, reported Global Strat View.

Iran's historical track record makes it probable that they will continue to do what is in their best interests while simply agreeing to what China says. One can only wait to see what the next diplomatic flashpoint between Iran and Saudi Arabia will be. To what extent Saudi Arabia can convince China to put pressure on Tehran is unclear. Global perceptions on the whole issue take it as Saudi capitulation to Iranian threats in the region after Iran's 2019 strike on Saudi oil facilities.

None of this detracts from the fact that China is spending vast amounts of time and money trying to convince everyone that it can lead to a new world order, reported Global Strat View. Chinese fears over 'containment' by the West and Iranian paranoia over isolationism by the Gulf Council due to its nuclear program have led to increasingly good ties between the two countries. However, in terms of cooperation, Saudi Arabia ranks far ahead of Iran when it comes to trade between the two countries.

An interesting point to note here is that we will never really know what tactics China has used to produce this diplomatic coup in a matter of months. The questions of how many people in Iran have received funding from China, the issue of leverage over the country due to existing infrastructure deals, and the need to 'save face' on the world stage are being conveniently forgotten, reported Global Strat View.