CPEC and the Belt and Road Initiative: Economic Implications for the Greater Middle East

Abstract

This article aims to analyse the economic significance of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a core component of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), for the Greater Middle East with focus on Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and Oman. In so doing, the article underscores on the one hand the existing economic cooperation between Pakistan and the said countries and on the other highlights China’s growing interest in the Arab World in terms of trade. In this respect, the study incorporates the economic values of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, Qatar National Vision (2030) and Oman Vision (2040) which provide for transregional economic cooperation in terms of market connectivity. In order to realise the latter, the CPEC, as part of the BRI, offers itself as means and market to transregional stakeholders. Empirically, the study posits that CPEC under the BRI framework carries positive economic implications for the Greater Middle East on account of existing and emerging investment and trade trends transregionally. Nonetheless, prospects for economic cooperation are beset with geopolitical challenges such as the recent Iran-US stand-off. The BRI, in remedial terms, can generate stakes for transregional (non-) BRI countries, especially Iran, India and the US in order to prefer peaceful means for conflict resolution.