China's leader Xi Jinping gives a speech during the Eighth Ministerial Meeting of China–Arab States Cooperation Forum at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on July 10, 2018. (Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty Images)
In January, the foreign ministers of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Saudi Arabia, along with Nayef Falah M. Al-Hajraf, the secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, paid a visit to China.
They made the trip for one reason and one reason only: to discuss furthering trade and security agreements with Beijing. As Axios reported at the time, the “flurry of visits by Gulf officials is part of China’s push for deeper involvement in the Middle East. For Beijing, the Gulf in particular is key to its energy supply and increasingly to its geopolitical influence.”
China has spotted an opening, with “Washington focusing on the Indo-Pacific, and with U.S.–Saudi relations under strain,” according to the report.
“There is a perception among Gulf leaders that the U.S. is slowly but surely pulling out of the region,” it reads.
Some U.S. officials are extremely “concerned about the degree to which China seems to be moving in,” according to Axios. As they should be. Slowly but surely, China is engulfing the Gulf. As China moves in, it’s looking to push the United States out and to further cement its geopolitical footprint.
Before going any further, it’s important to get our definitions in order. By the Gulf, I’m referring to the Persian Gulf region, which includes Iran, Oman, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Iraq. As the Persian Gulf region contains half of the world’s oil reserves, the importance of this area can’t be emphasized enough.
To really understand the significance of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) influence in the region, it’s best to look at each country on an individual basis.
Saudi Arabia, as CNN reported in December 2021, is now actively manufacturing ballistic missiles with the help of the CCP. At the recent meeting in Beijing, Saudi’s foreign minister discussed deepening “strategic cooperation” in the Gulf region, “where U.S. dominance is showing signs of retreat," according to the South China Morning Post.
China’s interest in the UAE is already well-known. As The Wall Street Journal reported in November 2021, the Biden administration was understandably alarmed by reports that the CCP was secretly building a military facility at a port in the UAE.
Beijing is “ready to work with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to enhance political mutual trust and strengthen practical cooperation in various fields under the framework of jointly building the Belt and Road,” according to Chinese state-run media outlet Xinhua. Such “practical cooperation” involves the development of “satellite navigation, high-speed railway, automation, sea-rice, and smart robots.”
A Chinese-made Wing Loong II drone is on display during the 2017 Dubai Airshow on Nov. 14, 2017. (Karim Sahib/AFP via Getty Images)
With Bahrain, “Beijing is willing to be a long-term and reliable strategic partner” and “deepen mutual trust and friendship," according to Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The CCP has promised “to provide vaccines to Bahrain, work with the Gulf Arab country to keep international anti-pandemic cooperation on the right track, and ensure scientific and fair research on global tracing of virus origins.”
If Wang is interested in tracing the origin of the latest virus that brought the world to its knees, I have a question for him: How about taking a trip to Wuhan? There appears to be a lab responsible for some rather interesting research situated in the city.
In Iraq, Chinese companies have agreed to build at least 1,000 schools in the war-torn country. Iraq, like 70 percent of the world’s other countries, is a member of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, also known as “One Belt, One Road”).
Then there’s Iran, the problem child of the region. Of course, one can’t discuss Iran without discussing nuclear weapons. With U.S. President Joe Biden’s Iran policy failing and China reaffirming its opposition to U.S. sanctions, there’s ample reason for concern. After all, Iran is a country run by a brutal, somewhat unhinged regime.
This, perhaps, explains Iran’s love affair with China, another country run by a brutal, somewhat unhinged regime. Recently, China and Iran have teamed up with Russia, another country with a supposedly unhinged leader, to engage in war games. The unholy trinity appears to have the United States in its crosshairs.
Across the entire Gulf region, Beijing’s presence can be felt, as we can see. More concerningly, the CCP’s presence is growing. As I’ve discussed before, China already controls vast portions of the African continent. It also controls vast portions of Latin America. Now, it’s engulfing the Gulf region, turning powerful nations against the United States.
Before we know it, communist China may very well control the world. That’s the plan, one imagines.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
John Mac Ghlionn is a researcher and essayist. He covers psychology and social relations, and has a keen interest in social dysfunction and media manipulation. His work has been published by the New York Post, The Sydney Morning Herald, Newsweek, National Review, and The Spectator US, among others.
