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Justine Salam / Hany Besada
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SBE, Vol.20, No.1, 2017
ISSN 1818-1228
©Copyright 2017/College of Business and Economics,
Qatar University
compare it with the Washington Consensus
that has dominated the second half of the
twentieth century. Second, we look at China’s
involvement in North Africa through the case
study of Sudan and analyze how this approach
differs from its strategy in the Middle East.
Next, we show that China has common interests
with both Saudi Arabia and Iran. Thanks
to the Beijing Consensus—which focuses
exclusively on economics and consistently
ignores political and cultural circumstances—
Chinese energy security policy in the MENA
has been particularly appealing to developing
states. This is in contrast with the Washington
Consensus, which frequently advocates
political change in exchange for economic
relations. Third, we provide an overview of
the current partnerships and contracts between
China and Saudi Arabia and Iran. Finally, we
look at the challenges China faces in securing
oil supplies and potential tensions it may
encounter with the United States.
II. The Appeal of the Middle
East
Historically, the Middle East has always been
the subject of strategic attention for various
global powers all the way up to the modern
times. After the First World War and the fall of
the Ottoman Empire, Great Britain and France
took control of the region and the infamous
Sykes-Picot Agreement, which fragmented
the region as a result of contrasting colonial
influences, was signed. The Middle East
was already known for its abundant natural
resources, which had been exploited in the
past. However, it was during this period of
colonialism towards the early 20
th
century that
technological advances led to modern armies
assuming the hunt for oil as the newly coveted
fuel of automobiles, aircraft, and other uses. Its
rich natural reserves of easily extractable crude
oil caused large-scale drilling operations to
emerge, with the British taking the lead in Iran
in 1901 and the Anglo Persian Oil Company
discovering oil in 1908
4
.
This structure of influence was sustained until
the aftermath of the Second World War, where
the Middle East experienced a shift in terms
of the dominant external power. At that point,
the United States had a growing economy and
global political clout. The nation expanded its
presence in the Middle East during the post-
war period with an agenda, on which oil supply
was a priority. Indeed, the need to fuel growth
and compensate for what the United States
could not provide from within its own domicile
became a centerpiece of the country’s foreign
policy
5
. The United States saw a potential for
secure oil supply in the oil-rich states of the
Persian Gulf and the latter saw an opportunity
to transform their vast oil reserves into direct
wealth for their economies. American foreign
policy continued to place an emphasis on
strategically increasing its ties with the Middle
East, as the country’s dependency on oil grew
for both domestic and military purposes.
III. China’s Fast-Growing
Need for Oil
With 1.3 billion people and one of the world’s
largest economies—second only to the United
States.— China has a fast-growing need for
oil. This need is not only driven by China’s
economic growth rate, but also by domestic
factors like the increasing number of vehicles
in the country, which jumped from one million
a decade ago to more than 22 million
6
. China
4
Keddie, N.
Iran: Religion, Politics, and Society:
Collected Essays
. London: Routledge. (1983).
5
Little, D.
American Orientalism: The United
States and the Middle East since 1945
. University
of North Carolina Press. (2008); Cooper, Andrew
S.
The Oil Kings: How the U.S., Iran, and Saudi
Arabia Changed the Balance of Power in the Middle
East
. Simon & Shuster. (2011)
6
Olimat, M.
China and the Middle East: From Silk
Road to Arab Spring
. New York: Routledge. (2013)