China and the Persian Gulf by Mordechai Chaziza;

Author:Mordechai Chaziza; [Неизв.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: International Specialized Book Services
Published: 2019-10-12T21:00:00+00:00

Military ties

Under China’s measures to formalize strategic partnerships with Doha, defense cooperation has become an increasingly significant part of integrating Qatar’s National Vision 2030 into the BRI framework. Even though it remains modest, since 2014 it has been maintaining a good momentum of development in the fields of personal training and academic exchange, and the transfer of military technology as well as high-level leadership visits.57

China–Qatar cooperation in security, anti-terrorism, and the military have also been strengthened in recent years. During the period of turmoil in GCC-Qatar relations, Beijing decided to upgrade its security partnership with Doha. Although China’s security ties with Qatar remain significantly less than those with Saudi Arabia or UAE,58 the timing of its expanded security partnership with Doha’s can be explained by the shared or mutual complementary economic and strategic interests between the two countries.

The relative decline of US hegemony and power in the Middle East and the emergence of a risen China that seeks significant roles in the region might affect the stability of the balance of power.59 Within this context and the tension with its neighbors, Qatar has started to seek ways to invest in stronger military ties with China, as well as other powers, to strengthen its position in an increasingly vulnerable geopolitical balance of power. Although Doha is determined to preserve its strategic alliance with the US, it is also seeking to hedge itself against the economic and trade embargo that has isolated it by air, land, and sea from its neighbors.60

For Beijing, the strengthened security partnership with Qatar is motivated by economic considerations. China is a significant importer of Qatari liquefied natural gas, and through military technology exports it can improve its balance of trade with Doha.61 According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Qatari arms imports have drastically increased by 282 percent from 2012 to 2016, and Qatar became the world’s third biggest importer, despite only having entered the top ten for the first time in 2015.62 Moreover, Beijing’s strengthened security partnership with Qatar is also motivated by strategic considerations. China views Qatar as a highly useful partner in the Arab world and the GCC, and can thereby bolster its own bid to act as mediator in the rapidly intensifying Middle East security crisis.63 China wants to preserve the GCC’s cohesion and is supportive of a peaceful resolution to the Gulf–Qatar standoff. Instability in the Persian Gulf is a worrisome prospect for China’s Belt and Road vision that includes the promotion of trade across the Arabian Peninsula.64

The security ties and the transfer of military technology must be interpreted within the context of Beijing’s grander objectives in the Middle East pertaining to the ambitious Belt and Road Initiative. Qatar and the other Gulf countries play essential roles in PRC’s vision for a multicontinental trade corridor that positions China at the center of the 21st-century global economy.

For Qatar, the growing defense ties with China are motivated by strategic considerations. The closer security ties to China may enable Doha to strategically hedge

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