China’s strategic partnership with the UAE: Foundation and prospects

Abstract

This article investigates the strategic partnership between China and the UAE. It begins with an analysis of the concept of strategic partnership, based on the existing literature on the topic in international relations. Since there is no consensus as to the meaning of the term strategic partnership, the paper applies Thomas Wilkins’s model or framework to explain the UAE’s partnership with China. Wilkins is among the few to develop a conceptual framework or analytical model of the term. The paper then focuses on the foundation of the strategic partnership between the two countries, and goes on to analyze the prospects for the future of this partnership. The paper argues that although this partnership is strong, its future depends on two important factors. The first is UAE’s alliance with the United States, and the second, China’s relations with Iran. Driven as it is by economic considerations and a mutual desire for closer security and political cooperation, the partnership cannot, however, ignore these two important aspects.

Notes

1 Feng Zhongping and Huang Jing, “China’s Strategic Partnership Diplomacy: Engaging with a Changing World,” European Strategic Partnership Observatory, Working Paper 8 (2014).

2 Quan Li and Min Ye, “China’s Emerging Partnership Network: What, Who, Where, When and Why,” International Trade, Politics and Development 3/2 (2019): 66–81.

3 Belt & Road News, “China’s Partnership Diplomacy & Successful Implementation of the BRI,” Belt & Road News, March 27, 2020, https://www.beltandroad.news/2020/03/27/chinas-partnership-diplomacy-successful-implementation-of-the-bri/ (accessed May 5, 2021).

4 Quan Li and Min Ye, “China’s Emerging Partnership Network: What, Who, Where, When and Why.”

5 See, for example, Roland Vogt, Europe and China: Strategic Partners or Rivals? (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2012); Paul Crookes and John Farnell, “The UK’s Strategic Partnership with China beyond Brexit: Economic Opportunities Facing Political Constraints,” Journal of Current Chinese Affairs 48/1 (2019); and Richard Maher, “The Elusive EU-China Strategic Partnership,” International Affairs, 92/4 (2016).

6 See, for example, Vidya Nadkarni, Strategic Partnerships in Asia: Balancing Without Alliances (London: Routledge, 2010).

7 See, for example, Domingos Muekalia, “Africa and China’s Strategic Partnership,” African Security Review 13/1 (2004): 5–11; Farah Arbab, “China-Africa Interactions: Prospects for a Strategic Partnership,” Cornell International Affairs Review 1/1 (2007); Piet Konings, “China and Africa: Building a Strategic Partnership,” Journal of Developing Societies 23/3 (2007): 341–67; and Judith De Looy and Leo De Haan, “Africa and China: A Strategic Partnership?,” Strategic Analysis 30/3 (2006).

8 See, for example, Lei Yu, “China’s Strategic Partnership with Latin America: A Fulcrum in China’s Rise,” International Affairs 91/5 (2015): 1047–68; Steen Christensen, “How Prioritized Is the Strategic Partnership between Brazil and China?,” Steen Christensen and L. Xing, eds., Emerging Powers, Emerging Markets, Emerging Societies (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016); and Yanran Xu, “China’s Strategic Partnerships in Latin America: Case Studies of China’s Oil Diplomacy in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Venezuela 1991–2015,” PRISM, 8/1 (2019).

9 Georg Struver, “China’s Partnership Diplomacy: International Alignment Based on Interests or Ideology,” The Chinese Journal of International Politics 10/1 (2017): 31–65.

10 Quan Li and Min Ye, “China’s Emerging Partnership Network: What, Who, Where, When and Why.”

11 Feng Zhongping and Huang Jing, “China’s Strategic Partnership Diplomacy: Engaging with a Changing World.”

12 Thomas Wilkins, “Russo-Chinese Strategic Partnership: A New Form of Security Cooperation?,” Contemporary Security Policy 29/2 (2008): 358–83.

13 William Bergquist, Juli Between, and David Meuel, Building Strategic Relationships: How to Extend Your Organization’s Reach through Partnerships, Alliances, and Joint Ventures (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1995), 57.

14 Luis Blanco, “The Functions of ‘Strategic Partnership’ in European Union Foreign Policy Discourse,” Cambridge Review of International Affairs 29/1 (2016): 36–54.

15 Sean Kay, “What Is a Strategic Partnership?,” Problems of Post-Communism 47/3 (2000): 15–25.

16 Thomas Wilkins, “Russo-Chinese Strategic Partnership: A New Form of Security Cooperation?”

17 Vidya Nadkarni, Strategic Partnerships in Asia: Balancing Without Alliances.

18 Jonathan Holslag, “The Elusive Axis: Assessing the EU-China Strategic Partnership,” Journal of Common Market Studies 49/2 (2011): 293–313.

19 Andriy Tyushka, Lucyna Czechowska, et al. “State, International Organizations and Strategic Partnership: Theorizing and ‘Ideal Model’,” in States, International Organizations and Strategic Partnerships, edited by Lucyna Czechowska, Andriy Tyushka, et al. (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019), 45.

20 Thomas Wilkins, “Russo-Chinese Strategic Partnership: A New Form of Security Cooperation?,” 363.

21 Ibid., 360–61.

22 Anne Schmidt, Strategic Partnerships – A Contested Policy Concept, Working Paper FG1 (Berlin: Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, 2010).

23 Vidya Nadkarni, Strategic Partnerships in Asia: Balancing Without Alliances, 48–49.

24 Jonathan Holslag, “The Elusive Axis: Assessing the EU-China Strategic Partnership,” 295.

25 Marius Vahl, Just Good Friends? The EU-Russian ‘Strategic Partnership’ and the Northern Dimension, CEPS Working Document 166 (2001): 1–55.

26 Michael Reitere, “The Role of ‘Strategic Partnerships’,” in The Palgrave Handbook of EU-Asia Relations, edited by Thomas Christiansen, Emil Kirchner, and Philomena Murry (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).

27 Marius Vahl, “Just Good Friends? The EU-Russian “Strategic Partnership” and the Northern Dimension.”

28 Sean Kay, “What Is a Strategic Partnership?”

29 Deon Geldenhuys, “The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between South Africa and Russia,” Strategic Review for Southern Africa 37/2 (2015): 118–45.

30 Camilla Adelle and John Kotsopoulos, “The EU-South Africa Strategic Partnership and Global Environmental Governance: Towards Effectives Multilateralism after Copenhagen,” South African Journal of International Affairs 24/2 (2017): 229–48.

31 Thomas Wilkins, “Russo-Chinese Strategic Partnership: A New Form of Security Cooperation?,” 365.

32 Ibid., 366.

33 Ibid.

34 Ibid., 366–67.

35 Mohamed Bin Huwaidin, China’s Relations with Arabia and the Gulf 1949–1999 (London: Routledge Curzon, 2002), 240.

36 Muhamad Olimat, China and the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries (London: Lexington Books, 2016), 212.

37 Mohamed Bin Huwaidin, China’s Relations with Arabia and the Gulf 1949–1999.

38 Daniel Workman, “Top 15 Crude Oil Suppliers to China,” World Top Exports, August 20, 2020, www.worldstopexports.com/top-15-crude-oil-suppliers-to-china/ (accessed April 20, 2020).

39 Xinhua. “UAE-China Trade Hits 52.65 bln USD in 2017,” Xinhuanet, July 5, 2018, http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-07/05/c_137301917.htm (accessed May 7, 2021).

40 Sam Bridge. “UAE-China Trade Rises 6% to 34.7bn, Says Top Diplomat,” Arabian Business, February 20, 2020, https://www.arabianbusiness.com/politics-economics/440772-uae-china-trade-rises-6-to-347bn-says-top-diplomat (accessed March 28, 2021).

41 Global Times, “China, UAE Issue Joint Statement on Establishing Strategic Partnership,” Global Times, January 18, 2012, http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/692650.shtml (accessed May 17, 2020).

42 Gulf News, “Full Text: UAE-China Joint Statement on Strategic Partnership,” Gulf News, July 21, 2018, https://gulfnews.com/uae/government/full-text-uae-china-joint-statement-on-strategic-partnership-1.2254614 (accessed May 17, 2020).

43 Rajan Menon, The End of Alliances (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).

44 Global Times, “China, UAE Issue Joint Statement on Establishing Strategic Partnership.”

45 Gulf News, “Full Text: UAE-China Joint Statement on Strategic Partnership.”

46 See Weilie Zhu, “Middle East Terrorism, Global Governance and China’s Anti-Terror Policy,” Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (in Asia) 5/2 (2011): 1–16.

47 I-Wei Jennifer Chang, “Chinese Policies on the Arab Spring,” in The International Politics of the Arab Spring, Popular Unrest and Foreign Policy, edited by Robert Mason (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), 178.

48 Mohammad El-Sayed Salim, “China’s Emerging Role in the New Arab World,” Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (in Asia) 7/4 (2013): 36–56.

49 Ingo Forstenlechner, Emilie Rutledge, and Rashid Alnuaimi. “The UAE, the ‘Arab Spring’ and Different Types of Dissent,” Middle East Policy 19/4 (2012): 54–67.

50 Abdulkhaleq Abdullah, Repercussions of the Arab Spring on GCC States, Research Paper (Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, 2012).

51 Thomas Wilkins, “Russo-Chinese Strategic Partnership: A New Form of Security Cooperation?,” 364.

52 Ibid.

53 Ibid., 365.

54 Gulf News, “Full Text: UAE-China Joint Statement on Strategic Partnership.”

55 Embassy of the UAE in Beijing. “Bilateral Relations,” 2020, https://sp.mofaic.gov.ae/EN/DiplomaticMissions/Embassies/Beijing/AboutEmbassy/Pages/BilateralRelations.aspx (accessed May 28, 2020).

56 Alican Tekingunduz, “What Is China Doing in Yemen?,” TRTWORLD, December 13, 2019, https://www.trtworld.com/middle-east/what-is-china-doing-in-yemen-32183 (accessed February 20, 2021).

57 WAM, “UAE, China Set to Step Up Trade, People-to-People Synergies in Transition to Digital Economy,” WAM, July 18, 2020, https://wam.ae/en/details/1395302855894 (accessed February 21, 2021).

58 American Enterprise Institute, “China Global Investment Tracker,” 2020, https://www.aei.org/china-global-investment-tracker/ (accessed January 12, 2021).

59 Trading Economics, “United Arab Emirates Balance of Trade,” 2020, https://tradingeconomics.com/united-arab-emirates/balance-of-trade (accessed January 12, 2021).

60 Ibtissem Lassoued, “War and Walls of the Dragon: China’s Geopolitical Ties and Sanctions Risks in the Middle East,” March 2019, https://www.tamimi.com/law-update-articles/wars-walls-of-the-dragon-chinas-geopolitical-ties-and-sanctions-risks-in-the-middle-east/ (accessed January 14, 2021).

61 Karen Young, “The Gulf’s Eastward Turn: The Logic of Gulf-China Economic Ties,” Journal of Arabian Studies 9/2 (2019): 236–52.

62 Kazuhiro Kida and Shinichi Hashimoto, “China’s Version of GPS now Has more Satellite than US Original,” NIKKEI Asia, August 19, 2020, https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/China-tech/China-s-version-of-GPS-now-has-more-satellites-than-US-original (accessed February 14, 2021).

63 Ali Obaid Al Dhaheri, “UAE and China Technology Development Parallels Provide Cooperation Opportunities,” China Daily, November 4, 2019, https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201911/04/WS5dbf7a4ca310cf3e3557529c.html (accessed February 23, 2021).

64 Daniel Workman, “Top 15 Crude Oil Suppliers to China,” World Top Exports.

65 Michal Meidan, Glimpses of China’s Energy Future (Oxford: The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, 2019), 4.

66 AEI, “China Global Investment Tracker.”

67 Mahmoud Habboush, “Chinese Warships Make First Visit to Port Zayed,” The National, March 24, 2010, https://www.thenational.ae/uae/chinese-warships-make-first-visit-to-port-zayed-1.522618 (accessed February 22, 2021).

68 Frank Slijper, Under the Radar: The United Arab Emirates, Arms Transfers and Regional Conflict (Utrecht: PAX, 2017).

69 Samuel Perlo-Freeman, “Who Is Arming the Yemen War? An Update,” Peace Foundation, March 19, 2019, https://sites.tufts.edu/reinventingpeace/2019/03/19/who-is-arming-the-yemen-war-an-update/ (accessed February 22, 2021).

70 Chen Zhuo, “China, UAE Pledge to Boost Comprehensive Strategic Partnership,” Xinhuanet, July 23, 2019, http://eng.chinamil.com.cn/view/2019-07/23/content_9566469.htm (accessed March 3, 2021).

71 Megha Rajagopalan, “Facial Recognition Technology Is Facing a Huge Backlash in the US. But Some of the World’s Biggest Tech Companies Are Trying to Sell it in the Gulf,” Buzz Feed News, May 29, 2019, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/meghara/dubai-facial-recognition-technology-ibm-huawei-hikvision (accessed February 15, 2021).

72 Gulf Today, “UAE China-Trade Trade Reaches $34.7 Billion in First 9 Months of 2019: Envoy,” February 21, 2020, https://www.gulftoday.ae/business/2020/02/21/uae-china-trade-reaches-$34-7b–-in-first-9-months-of-2019-envoy (accessed March 13, 2021).

73 Muhammad Rakhmat, “China and the UAE: New Cultural Horizons,” Middle East Institute, March 19, 2015, https://www.mei.edu/publications/china-and-uae-new-cultural-horizons (accessed February 28, 2021).

74 Thomas Wilkins, “Russo-Chinese Strategic Partnership: A New Form of Security Cooperation?,” 365.

75 Ibid., 366.

76 See Serafettin Yilmaz, “The Iranian Nuclear Dilemma: A Comparative Analysis of Chinese and US Strategy,” International Journal of Chinese Studies 6/1(2015): 45–62.

77 Mohamed Bin Huwaidin, China’s Relations with Arabia and the Gulf 1949–1999.

78 Business Day, “China Thanks UAE for Backing Crackdown on Ethnic Muslim Minorities,” Business Day, July 22, 2019, https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/world/asia/2019-07-22-china-thanks-uae-for-backing-crackdown-on-ethnic-muslim-minorities/ (accessed March 28, 2021).

79 Gulf Today, “UAE China-Trade Trade Reaches $34.7 Billion in First 9 Months of 2019: Envoy.”

80 Song Lin and Shen Weiduo, “China, UAE Set Sights on Broader Cooperation,” Global Times, July 22, 2019, http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1158783.shtml (accessed February 15, 2021).

81 American Enterprise Institute, “China Global Investment Tracker.”

82 Jennifer Gnana, “Adnoc Signs Strategic Agreement with China National Offshore Oil Corporation,” The National, July 22, 2019, https://www.thenational.ae/business/energy/adnoc-signs-strategic-agreement-with-china-national-offshore-oil-corporation-1.889241 (accessed March 3, 2021).

83 Construction Week, “Dubai’s Dewa Eyes Chinese Energy Companies for Future Projects,” August 22, 2019, https://www.constructionweekonline.com/business/257920-dubais-dewa-eyes-chinese-energy-companies-for-future-projects (accessed February 13, 2021).

84 Gulf Today, “UAE China-Trade Trade Reaches $34.7 Billion in First 9 Months of 2019: Envoy.”

85 Hu Yuwei and Xu Ke Yue, “UAE First Country to Roll Out Chinese COVID-19 Vaccine for Mass Use,” Global Times, December 24, 2020, https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1210941.shtml (accessed January 7, 2021).

86 WAM, “UAE, China Set to Step Up Trade, People-to-People Synergies in Transition to Digital Economy.”

87 U.S. Department of State, “U.S. Relations with United Arab Emirates, Bilateral Relations Fact Sheet,” December 9, 2020, https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-united-arab-emirates/ (accessed February 23, 2021).

88 Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, Washington DC, “UAE-US Relations,” Date not Specified, https://www.uae-embassy.org/uae-us-relations/key-areas-bilateral-cooperation/uae-us-security-relationship (accessed May 23, 2021).

89 Kenneth Katzman, The United Arab Emirates (UAE): Issues for U.S. Policy (Washington: Congressional Research Services, 2013), 12.

90 Kenneth Katzman, The United Arab Emirates (UAE): Issues for U.S. Policy (Washington: Congressional Research Services, 2016), 18.

91 Fred McGoldrick, The U.S.-UAE Peaceful Nuclear Cooperation Agreement: A Gold Standard or Fool’s Good?, Policy Perspectives, CSIS, 2010.

92 Emily Sorkin, The Abraham Accords: The Culmination of a Decades-long Normalization Process between Israel and the UAE (Boston: Boston University, 2010).

93 James Phillips, Nicol Robinson, and John Venable, “F-35 Sale to UAE Advances U.S. Security Interests,” The Heritage Foundation, Issue Brief, No. 6032, December 10, 2020.

94 Nick Wadhams and Sylvia Westall, “Biden Prods UAE to Dump Huawei, Sowing Doubts on Key F-35 Sale,” June 11, 2021, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-11/biden-prods-uae-to-dump-huawei-sowing-doubts-on-key-f-35-sale (accessed June 12, 2021).

95 Ibid.

96 Katie Bo Lillis, Natasha Bertrand, and Kylie Atwood, “Construction Halted on Secret Project at Chinese Port in UAE after Pressure from the US, Official Say,” November 19, 2021, https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/19/politics/china-uae-us-construction-port/index.html (accessed January 30, 2022).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mohamed Bin Huwaidin

Mohamed Bin Huwaidin ([email protected]) is an Associate Professor of Political Science and has served for many years as Chair of the Department of Government and Society at the United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, UAE. He specializes in the international politics of the Arabian Gulf region. His research explores the issue of Gulf security and the determinants of big powers’ interest in the region. Among his publications: “Oman’s Response to a Rising Iran: A Case of Strategic Hedging,” Journal of Arabian Studies, 9 (1), 2019; “Determinants of the United Arab Emirates’ New Assertive Foreign Policy,” Journal of the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies 44 (168), 2018; and “Beyond Rentierism: The United Arab Emirates’ Exceptionalism in a Turbulent Region,” Contemporary Arab Affairs, 10 (4), 2017.