» 01/16/2012 15:26 CHINA – SAUDI ARABIA – IRAN With sanctions and threats, Beijing ready to cut Tehran loose China strengthens trade with Saudi Arabia, signs deals to develop energy resources, sending a signal to Iran, which is in the eye of the storm because of its nuclear programme.
Abu Dhabi (AsiaNews/Agencies) – China appears to be moving towards a new Mideast strategy, ready to cut Iran loose. Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao’s ongoing Gulf States tour has already netted him very important results, first among them a deal with Saudi Arabia to build an oil refinery to deal with 400,000 barrels per day.
At the World Future Energy summit in Abu Dhabi, the Chinese leader vowed Monday to keep promoting peace in oil-rich Middle East at a time of high tension between the West and major oil producer Iran over Western sanctions and Tehran’s nuclear programme.
“As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China will continue to promote peace in Western Asia,” Prime Minister Wen Jiabao told summit participants.
The region, he said, has a “strategic and important position” because it sits on “40 per cent of global oil reserves”.
Wen arrived in Abu Dhabi after a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia where the two countries signed important energy deals. State-run Saudi oil giant Aramco and China's Sinopec finalised an initial agreement to build an oil refinery in the Red Sea city of Yanbu to deal with 400,000 barrels per day. This would allow Beijing to reduce reliance on Iranian oil.
China and Saudi Arabia have a long history of trade. At present, the Wahhabi kingdom is the mainland’s largest supplier of oil and bilateral trade between the two countries amounted to US$ 58.5 billion in the first 11 months of last year.
The two countries also signed an agreement to build a petrochemical plain in Tianjin and to cooperate for the “peaceful use of nuclear energy”.
The flurry of deal making appears to be a signal to the Iranian government, which is in the eye of the storm over its nuclear activities banned by the international community.
As a result of unilateral US sanctions, Chinese companies operating in Iran are paying the price. For instance, the US State Department has imposed sanctions on Zhuhai Zhenrong for dealing with Iran. This has both irritated and set off alarm bells in Beijing.
Iran has tried to counter the US measures in order to keep its important customers. After issuing a warning that it would close the Strait of Hormuz where 40 per cent of the world’s oil is shipped, Tehran has put pressures on Gulf States not to help the West by boosting their oil production and exports.
Some Gulf nations could in fact fill any gap created by and Iranian oil embargo.
_0116_-_Wen.jpg)
