Muslim pilgrims wear masks in the Great Mosque of the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
Photographer: Abdel Ghani Bashir / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Abdel Ghani Bashir / AFP / Getty Images
When Chinese diplomat Tan Banglin defended the country’s dealings with Muslims amid an international outcry, his comments were less remarkable than where he made them.
In a column last July for one of the most widely read newspapers in Saudi Arabia – the traditional protector of the world’s Muslims – Tan he talked about how the Communist Party had united with the people of Xinjiang province, causing “big” changes. So were nations, including the US accusing China of introducing Uighurs into detention camps.
The voice given to China‘s consul general in Jeddah, less than 70 kilometers from Islam’s holiest city, Mecca, reflects the new political count under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as he prioritizes the most secular national interests at a critical juncture for the kingdom. And it may serve him well when the administration moves to Washington, despite US opposition to Beijing’s actions in Xinjiang.
Portraits of Mohammed bin Salman and King Salman at a construction site in King Abdullah’s financial district in Riyadh.
Photographer: Tasneem Alsultan / Bloomberg
The Saudi worldview is being shaped more by difficult business calculations, changing geopolitical realities and the emergence of clean energy as a competitor to oil as it faces a challenge from Turkey to lead the Sunni Muslim sphere.
The kingdom has been less vocal on the Palestinian question, which for decades was its cellular cause. Saudi support for the Muslim population has been notable for its absence in the disputed region of Kashmir, with the Pakistani government heading to Turkey while Prince Mohammed increases trade with India.
“Saudi Arabia suffered from a transnational political Islamism, where some of its citizens were the first to travel to help other Muslims, but they do not identify much with their own national causes,” Prince Abdullah bin Khaled said. , Saudi scholar. “We needed a change of direction and it was very well received.”
U.S. President Joe Biden has vowed to treat Saudi Arabia as an outcast after four years welcoming relationships with his predecessor, Donald Trump. Talks about human rights issues, their devastating war against Yemen and rivalry with Iran are likely to be uncomfortable when they end up happening.
There could also be more tension over the 2018 murder of critic and columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul after Biden’s candidate for director of national intelligence this week pledged to publish a report on who was responsible for the assassination.
Read more: The US publication of the Khashoggi report could embarrass the Saudi prince
But the refusal to intervene abroad under the guise of supporting other Muslims – as Turkey does – may gain some points with the Biden administration, according to Emily Hawthorne, a Texas-based Stratfor analyst who advises clients on geopolitical risks.
“Saudis could see that becoming more of an economically focused modernized nation is more important than continuing to always foster this leadership role in the wider Muslim world,” he said. Hawthorne. “It’s a gamble, but it may be good for them to gain some weight in Saudi Arabia. “
Mohammed bin Salman
Photographer: Alexander Zemlianichenko / AFP / Getty Images
Until a few years ago, it would have been strange to see a warm praise for a communist party printed in Saudi Arabia, not to mention a representative of a country censored for its alleged persecution of Muslims. In the 1980s, the Saudis sent money, and later their children, to Afghanistan to join the fight against the Soviet occupation of that country.
Saudi relations with China have strengthened beyond the oil supply. King Salman, who took the throne in 2015, and the Crown Prince have visited Beijing separately. On his trip in 2019, the prince appeared to defend China’s alleged repression of Muslims and signed an agreement to build a $ 10 billion refining and petrochemical complex.
This month, China’s Huawei has launched its largest flagship store outside of China in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Investment Minister Khalid AlFalih he tweeted the news, saying he was “delighted” with the ad.
Mohammed bin Salman meets with Xi Jinping in Beijing in 2019.
Photographer: How Hwee Young / AFP / Getty Images
It has been a journey that began slowly after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks of 19 kidnappers, 15 of them Saudi, and that accelerated under Prince Muhammad.
Under pressure to curb extremists, Saudi Arabia waged a successful campaign against the radicals in the 2000s. Significantly, the late King Abdullah turned Saudi National Day on September 23 into a holiday, and infuriated the radicals. who believe that Muslims should not be divided by borders.
When he came to power four years ago, Prince Muhammad it curbed the influence of the powerful religious establishment, gave women more freedoms, and allowed concerts and movie theaters. It also tightened control over how financial aid is distributed abroad, which came largely to governments and not directly to Muslim groups. Alcohol, which the Qur’an forbids, remains forbidden.
The change was not an abandonment of Muslim issues, but rather “balancing their support with the imperatives, sensibilities, and priorities of the state, knowing that different contexts dictate different realities,” Prince Abdullah said. academic.
In fact, Saudi Arabia was the first country to be blamed for fueling Islamist terrorism. However, after a series of terrible jihadist attacks in France last year, it was Turkey that French President Emmanuel Macron highlighted as instigator.
Prince Muhammad made it clear that the duty of the kingdom is to look after the two sacred mosques of Mecca and Madinah and make them accessible to Muslims around the world.
Source: AFP / Getty Images
Saudi Arabia will always have the physical claim of Islam. Prince Muhammad, through his actions and decisions, has made it clear that the duty of the kingdom is to look after the two sacred mosques of Mecca and Madinah and make them accessible to Muslims around the world. One of the goals of his plan to restructure the economy is to expand the two sites and increase the number of pilgrims.
At the same time, the leadership has pointed out that it is not the duty of the kingdom to solve the problems of Muslims around the world.
When India it revoked nearly seven decades of autonomy owned by the calm, mainly Muslim state of Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan, which also claims that the region, had he hoped that Saudi Arabia would galvanize Muslims around this issue. The kingdom, the largest source of remittances in Pakistan and among its major creditors, no.
However, trade with India, which the kingdom considers a major economic power, has prospered since then, while Saudi Arabia wants to deepen its country. In the third quarter of 2020, India, along with Egypt, pushed for an increase in foreign investment in the kingdom, a key pillar of the Crown Prince’s economic diversification plan.
Meanwhile, Turkey has been strengthening ties with Islamabad. Its Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu opened a new consulate in Pakistan this month, promised to send investors to explore opportunities and chaired the signing of agreements in the film industry.
Turkish-Pakistani relations are “unique and enviable,” Mujahid Anwar Khan, Pakistan’s chief of staff, told the Andalusian Turkey State Agency this month. He thanked the Turkish leadership for its “statements of support” on Kashmir.
He The Saudis may be losing the soft power game against Turkey right now, Hawthorne said. “But they’re probably valuing other games.” “Turkey has economic limits on how much it is willing to sacrifice its own economic interests to gain soft power. This is never a zero-sum game.”