America and China Compete for Influence in Middle East Through Strategic Deals with Saudis

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In just a few days, Saudi Arabia formed deals with the two biggest countries: China and the United States. The first was an agreement to reestablish good relationships with Iran, which had previously been enemies. For the second, Saudi Arabia made a huge purchase from Boeing – an airplane manufacturer in the U.S.

The Saudi government made two announcements that made people think they are trying to become a very important country in the world, which can be friendly with both China and the United States. It also showed that China is taking a different role in Middle Eastern politics. People also wanted to know if there was peace between the US and Saudi Arabia since President Joe Biden took office.

The Biden administration is looking at what is happening, but they do not agree that the U.S.-China competition in the Middle East has changed.

The White House doesn’t think a big airplane deal means much of a change in how they feel about Saudi Arabia, despite President Biden’s earlier criticism on human rights and their OPEC+ oil production cuts last year.

John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House’s National Security Council (NSC), said that they are trying their best to make sure that the U.S.’s relationship with Saudi Arabia is beneficial to our country’s national security. This was said after Boeing announced that Saudis would be buying up to 121 airplanes from them.

China has made an effort that can help improve relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, as well as secured a large deal for Boeing from the White House. This takes Biden’s relationship with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to a whole new level.

When he was running for President, Joe Biden said that the leaders of Saudi Arabia would be punished for the death of Jamal Khashoggi – an American journalist who had spoken out against them. Recently, when OPEC+ (an international alliance) decided to limit oil production to help Russia, Biden warned that there would be consequences.

Now, Washington (the capital of the US) and Saudi Arabia (Riyadh) want to make things happen, while China is getting involved in Middle East diplomacy.

The Saudi government has been telling the American government what’s going on with the talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran to get back together in a diplomatic way, for almost two years. The conversations took place several times, first in Iraq then again at Oman, before the deal that was accepted last week during China’s national holiday celebration.

The U.S. is not friends with Iran and wasn’t involved in talks about them. Between Iran and Saudi Arabia, there has been a lot of bad history like religious arguments and issues between the countries for control in the region. After Saudi Arabia punished a well-known Shiite Islamic leader, people protested in Tehran and Iran’s leader reported that bad things would happen to those who did this action.

White House official Jake Sullivan said this week that China is trying to help stop the fighting between Arab countries in the Middle East. This fighting has been going on in places like Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq for a long time.

Sullivan said this is good news because it means less fighting and hopefully peace in the region – something the US has wanted for a while.

White House officials don’t think China is good at or interested in trying to solve the problems in the Middle East, including the war in Yemen.

Yemen’s capital city called Sanaa was controlled by Iran allies (known as Houthis) since 2014. Saudi Arabia then joined forces with a group backed by America in 2015 that tried to take back Sanaa from Houthis.

The war between the Middle East countries had been continuing, causing a difficult situation all people living in that region. Unfortunately, around 150,000 people, including over 14,500 civilians have lost their lives because of it according to an organization named The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.

A six-month break from conflict ended in October, so the U.S. government is trying to figure out how to make sure there isn’t anymore fighting in Yemen. To do this, the State Department is sending a special messenger, Tim Lenderking, to Saudi Arabia and Oman this week with the goal of keeping in place the peace agreement that has been making Yemen more peaceful lately.

Beijing got in on the talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia at the perfect moment. That’s what six high-ranking government officials from the White House told Big Big News (They asked to remain anonymous when discussing how the White House made its decision). At the same time, China’s leader Xi Jinping was given a third 5-year term as president.

The official said that if China helps bring peace back to Yemen, then the White House would be happy. But both the White House and Saudi Arabia are very doubtful about Iran’s plans to fix things in Yemen or generally keep the Middle East peaceful.

China, which is part of the United Nations Security Council, has not taken much interest in conflicts like Yemen, Syria and Israel-Palestine. However, last week China’s president called for China to be more active in dealing with world affairs after they had a success with an agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

China’s Deputy U.N. Ambassador Geng Shuang said at the U.N. Security Council meeting on Wednesday that the new development has been good for peace, stability, and cooperation in this region and it will also help to make the situation in Yemen better.

Government officials noted that Beijing had expressed a bit of eagerness to get back the Iran nuclear deal, the one President Donald Trump backed out from in 2018. Last fall, attempts to revive this agreement were put on hold due to an incident where 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was arrested for not following Iran’s law requiring women to wear specific clothing.

China has been deepening its influence in the Middle East, especially with Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Chinese President Xi Jinping recently visited both countries as part of his efforts to become a more important player on the international stage. However, according to Miles Yu from the Hudson Institute, China needs to make massive changes in order for this plan to succeed.

Yu, who was an adviser to the US Secretary of State, stated that China has used money as the foundation for their diplomatic moves. They have made friends with several countries from Africa and Asia using monetary incentives but this does not create long-lasting friendships.

Senator Chris Murphy, a person from the United States who is not very friendly with Saudi Arabia, said it’s possible that China could pay for keeping some of the Middle East safe. He mentioned that China has been able to depend on America to do this without having to spend money itself. In the long-term, though, he believes that the oil in this area is more important to China than it is to America.

The White House isn’t worried that Saudi Arabia is moving closer to China because the Saudis are using weapons and parts made by America. It would take a long time (ten years) for them to switch to Russian or Chinese-made products.

Saudi Arabia really depends on U.S. weapons and the help of American people living in the country – nearly 70,000 people! These things have helped keep their relationship running even when times get rough, said Les Janka, who used to live in Saudi Arabia.

Taking apart the weapons, technology and training used by America would require a lot of work, according to Janka. News writer Edith M. Lederer from the United Nations also had something to do with this report.