China’s foreign minister urged Gulf countries to finally seal a free trade agreement that has been in negotiations for decades.
Wang Yi used a trip to Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE this week to lobby the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to conclude the talks as a “strong signal defending multilateralism.” China is keen to deepen economic, trade, and investment ties with the GCC, Wang said.
The GCC is negotiating several other trade deals, including ones with the EU and the UK, but a deal with China presents some thorny issues: There is a huge trade surplus in the GCC’s favor, and regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia and the UAE are both developing manufacturing bases that will increasingly pit their domestic industries against Chinese competitors.
Beijing and Riyadh in particular agreed during Wang’s trip to strengthen coordination on regional and international security issues and to deepen cooperation in oil and gas, new energy, and artificial intelligence. The Chinese official’s visit comes a month after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with US President Donald Trump in Washington, in a sign of how the kingdom is increasingly positioning itself as an ally of both countries, even as China-US relations become increasingly adversarial.