China’s “Belt and Road” Economic Diplomacy in the Persian Gulf: Strategic Hedging amidst Saudi–Iranian Regional Rivalry

Jeremy Garlick,Radka Havlová

doi:10.1177/1868102619898706

Jeremy Garlick, Radka Havlová

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1177/1868102619898706

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Abstract

Drawing on the literature on strategic hedging and adapting it to China’s use of economic diplomacy in the service of comprehensive national security goals within the regionalised foreign policy approach of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), we examine China’s approach to securing and expanding its interests in the Persian Gulf. To implement the trade and infrastructure connectivity goals of the BRI and to secure the continued flow of diversified energy supplies, China needs to boost relations with both regional powerhouses, Iran and Saudi Arabia, without alienating either of them or the regional hegemon, the United States. The resulting strategy of strategic hedging is based in the Chinese approach to economic diplomacy, which utilises Chinese commercial actors in the service of national strategic objectives. Relations require careful and ongoing management if China is to achieve outcomes which benefit all sides while avoiding becoming entangled in the region’s intractable geopolitical problems.

Highlights

The Persian Gulf is a zone of complex competing interests in which Iran and Saudi Arabia are probably the two most significant regional powers, while the United States, which favours Saudi Arabia over Iran, dominates militarily
The Gulf is the source of a large part of the world’s oil, including imports by the People’s Republic of China (PRC): more than half of China’s oil imports reaches its ports via the Straits of Hormuz, the Straits of Malacca, and the South China Sea, with 17 per cent coming from Saudi Arabia and 9 per cent from Iran in 2014 (EIA, 2015)
In the face of the bitter regional rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia, Beijing seeks to ensure that it maintains good political relations with both powers simultaneously while keeping the regional hegemon, the United States, onside

Summary

Introduction

The Persian Gulf is a zone of complex competing interests in which Iran and Saudi Arabia are probably the two most significant regional powers, while the United States, which favours Saudi Arabia over Iran, dominates militarily. In the face of the bitter regional rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia, Beijing seeks to ensure that it maintains good political relations with both powers simultaneously while keeping the regional hegemon, the United States, onside. China, wishing to avoid unnecessary entanglement in the geopolitics of the region, does not intend to weaken or undermine the United States, but to allow it to continue in its role of regional security provider. To this end, Beijing seeks to expand and secure its economic interests, including diversified energy supplies, without alienating any of the three key regional actors, the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Iran (Liu and Zesheng, 2017)

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