Beijing, a new political player in the Middle East

Nice double for Xi Jinping. In addition to having obtained a new mandate as President of the Republic – the 2,952 delegates of the National People’s Assembly voted unanimously in favor of him on Friday March 10 – the Chinese number one contributed to the resumption of diplomatic relations between the Saudi Arabia and Iran, announced from Beijing on the same day. Not only were the secret negotiations concluded under the aegis of China – the final declaration is moreover tripartite – but, since 2016, Xi Jinping himself has been heavily involved in the region. This normalization agreement confirms the rise of China in the Middle East. Long confined to the role of simple customer of oil companies in the Gulf, Beijing has become a strategic partner of the monarchies of the peninsula and now, therefore, a political player in this region.

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Between the monarchy of Saudi Arabia, traditionally pro-American and home to the first holy place of Islam, and communist China, which persecutes Uighur Muslims, the agreement was not easy. But Xi Jinping was able to take advantage of the rise of Mohammed Ben Salman (“MBS”) from 2015 to bring about a rapprochement based both on the development of economic exchanges and Riyadh’s desire to distance itself from from Washington.

In January 2016, Xi Jinping made an official visit to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iran. He had concluded numerous agreements there and had integrated these countries into his international investment project for the “New Silk Roads”. Saudi Arabia had then become a “integral strategic partner” of China, a qualification reserved until then, in the region, for Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

Spokesperson for a “Global South”

Unlike Washington, China has always managed to maintain good relations with Riyadh and Tehran (and also Israel). In March 2021, then Foreign Minister Wang Yi signed a “strategic cooperation agreement” for a period of twenty-five years.

In December 2022, Xi Jinping was once again greeted with pomp in Riyadh. In addition to deepening cooperation between the “New Silk Roads” and the kingdom’s modernization program (“Vision 2030”) led by “MBS”, this trip was an opportunity to organize the first summit between China and the Gulf countries. Even if the Islamic Republic had not necessarily seen this event with a good eye, the reception with great fanfare in Beijing of Iranian President Ebrahim Raïsi, in mid-February, undoubtedly made it possible to appease the differences and prepare for the negotiation. which ended on Friday.

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