China continues to build, bit by bit, an alternative to each of the major components of the Western world order. This includes, crucially, a new world oil market order. Fully analyzed in my new book with exactly the same name. The latest building block is the invitation of three of the world’s largest oil and gas giants – Saudi Arabia, Iran and the UAE – to join the political economy group BRICS, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. It can be seen as a developing country alternative to the US-led G8, which was indefinitely suspended in March 2014 following Russia’s annexation of Crimea. As it stands, Iran and the UAE said they would accept the invitation, while Saudi Arabia said it was considering the proposal. The International Energy Agency estimates that with all three new members, the BRICS group will control about 41 percent of all world oil production. But as a matter of fact, it is irrelevant whether Saudi Arabia formally joins. This is because all three countries, and virtually all of the Middle East’s major oil and gas players, have already pledged allegiance to one of the geopolitical components or China. another. The BRICS are seen as China’s replacement for the G8 (again, following Russia’s permanent exit in January 2017), but the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is a much bigger deal overall.As Exclusively reported by oil price.com then, and Fully analyzed in my new bookSaudi Arabia had already signed a memorandum of understanding recognizing SCO’s “dialogue partner” status on September 16, 2022. At that point, the Saudis did nothing to encourage the news to go public, unlike in late April this year, shortly after they agreed to a surprising resumption of their relationship deal with Iran brokered by China. By then Saudi Arabia had decided it was the right time to give full coverage to the news that ministers had approved plans to join the South African country as a dialogue partner. Also, Exclusively reported According to OilPrice.com at the time, Iran will approve a “full member” of its own SCO in September 2021, and was approved on July 4 this year. Iran’s accession to the South African nations merely recognized China’s dominance over neighboring Iraq, which is heavily influenced by Iran, through the comprehensive “Iran-China 25-Year Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement”, which is the same as anywhere else in the world. It was revealed for the first time.my Article on September 3, 2019 This subject has been extensively researched and my new book.
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Unlike the rather vague operating parameters of the BRICS organization, SCO is very specific, very strong and very serious in its objectives. It is already the world’s largest regional political, economic and defense organization in terms of both geographic reach and population. It accounts for 60 percent of Eurasia (by far the largest single landmass on earth), 40 percent of the world’s population and more than 20 percent of the world’s GDP. It was formed in 2001 based on the “Shanghai Five” established in 1996 by China, Russia, and the former Soviet Union (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan). Apart from its vast scale and scope, the SCO believes in the ideals and practices of a “multipolar world” and expects China to be dominated by a multipolar world by 2030. Russia’s veteran Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov later said: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization strives to establish a rational and fair world order, [â¦] This offers us a unique opportunity to participate in the process of shaping a fundamentally new model of geopolitical integration. Aside from these geopolitical redesigns, the SCO is also working to strengthen military cooperation, provide intelligence sharing, as well as provide internal funding and banking networks. anti-terrorism activities, etc.
From the end of December 2021 to the beginning of January 2022, Chinese government officials met in Beijing with the Foreign Ministers of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain, and the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).Main topics of conversation fully analyzed in my new bookwas to eventually conclude a China-GCC free trade agreement and forge “deeper strategic cooperation in a region where U.S. dominance is showing signs of receding.” Also during the meeting, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman signed the China-Saudi Partnership Agreement with King Salman. The new agreement promised cooperation in finance and investment, innovation, science and technology, aerospace, oil and gas, renewable energy, language and culture. After collecting everyone’s names to sign a cooperation pact to spend all of these, Mr. Xi next identified two “priority areas” he believes need to be addressed as soon as possible. The first is the shift to the use of the Chinese yuan in oil and gas transactions between Arab League countries and China, and the second is the introduction of nuclear technology to targeted Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia. is to bring in
On President Xi’s first urgent priority, moving away from core U.S. dollar pricing in energy markets and using the renminbi instead, China has long dominated the global currency league table for its renminbi. It has viewed its status as a reflection of its country’s geopolitical situation. and economic importance on the world stage. An early sign of China’s renminbi ambitions was at the G20 summit in London in April 2010, when Zhou Xiaochuan, then governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), announced that China would launch a new global reserve currency. It was made clear by warning against the idea of wanting. It will one day replace the US dollar. I have also been keenly aware of the fact that China is the world’s largest annual oil importer. from 2017, directly subject to the whims of US foreign policy through the US dollar oil price mechanism.This view of using the US dollar as a weapon was echoed by former Bank of China Managing Vice Governor Zhang Yanling in a speech in April, noting that the latest sanctions against Russia would “lose US confidence and undermine the [U.S.] Saudi Arabia has long embraced the idea of replacing the US with the Chinese yuan as an energy source, but has suggested that China should help the world “sooner or later emerge from dollar hegemony.”Transactions with China are also analyzed my new book. In August 2017, then-Deputy Saudi Minister of Economy and Planning Mohamed Al-Tuwaijiri said at a Saudi-China conference in Jeddah that the country would “positively consider financing with the yuan and other Chinese products.” . “China is one of the most diversified markets,” he added. [the funding basis of Saudi Arabia] ??? [and that] We will also access other technical markets in terms of unique funding opportunities, private placements and panda bonds. ”
The statement was oddly timed when looking to the second of Xi’s urgent priorities: introducing nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia and other Arab League and GCC countries. Just before Christmas 2021, news broke that US intelligence had discovered that Saudi Arabia was manufacturing its own products. ballistic missile with Chinese aid. Given China’s long-term and extensive “support” for Iran’s nuclear ambitions, it is fully analyzed in the paper below. my new book, the information was received very badly in Washington and focused on what Beijing’s ultimate goal was to build up the nuclear capabilities of rival major powers in the Middle East. The United Arab Emirates is currently the only Arab country with nuclear reactors and is also a new member of the BRICS group. As a senior official at the US Energy Security Complex told us exclusively, the US government is “extremely concerned” despite the US’s widespread deployment of massive military bases in and around the UAE. there is,” he said. oil price.com Last year, it turned out that China was building a structure. secret military facility UAE’s Khalifa Port and surroundings. US officials said China was seeking to establish a “military foothold in the UAE” based on classified satellite imagery and human intelligence data. UAE officials said they were unaware of such activity by China in one of the country’s largest ports for months, with very high levels of huge Chinese ships coming and going day and night. Ta. Saudi Arabia has been negotiating to acquire nuclear technology from the United States under the 1-2-3 protocol, which aims to limit the enrichment of uranium for weapons purposes. It remains to be seen whether China will insist on such a protocol or that such a protocol, if in place, will be followed.
By Simon Watkins, Oilprice.com
