King Salman’s Asian tour builds allies

Saudi Arabia has started the year with a flurry of diplomacy. At the start of the week, foreign minister Adel Al Jubeir made a historic visit to Baghdad – the first visit by such a senior official since 1990. As Mr Al Jubeir was in Baghdad, King Salman was beginning a month-long tour of Asia, which will take him to Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan and China. No Saudi leader has visited Indonesia or Japan since King Salman’s half-brother King Faisal was on the throne in the 1970s. That this current diplomatic tour is historic is not in dispute, but why now?
King Salman’s visits are driven by both politics and economics. Asia is the world’s fastest-growing economic region and King Salman will visit three of its powerhouses. Of course Saudi Arabia is looking to expand trade with all those countries – in particular China, where Russia still supplies more oil than Saudi Arabia. But it is also looking for investment – next year as the kingdom gears up for the Aramco IPO, it will be courting Asian investors.
Moreover, there is a strong element of foreign policy to these visits. Riyadh is serious about its Islamic Military Alliance, a coalition of nearly 40 Muslim-majority countries that aims to combat terrorism. For Saudi Arabia, the IMA is a method of increasing its weight in world affairs and bringing some coordination to the battle against ISIL. Both Malaysia and Indonesia are part of the IMA and King Salman will be keen to bring them closer – both, after all, have their own difficulties with extremists.
A similar foreign-policy objective is behind the visit of Mr Al Jubeir to Iraq. Saudi Arabia’s relations with Iraq nosedived after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990 and have never recovered. In the aftermath of the 2003 US invasion, Saudi Arabia was concerned by Iranian influence in Iraq. Worse, the sectarian strain of politics that overtook Iraq under Nouri Al Maliki has had an effect far beyond the country’s borders.
It was because of those sectarian clashes that a path was opened for ISIL to take over parts of the country, leading to ISIL’s involvement in Syria and ISIL’s spread to other parts of the region. What happens in Iraq, therefore, is now of paramount importance for the security of the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia is entering a new period of diplomacy and politics, both with its Asian allies and, through its diversification strategy, with itself. As it does, a new foreign policy is emerging.

Source: The National