https://www.scmp.com/rss/324099/feed James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Three back-to-back, high-level Muslim and Arab summits held over the past two days are likely to yield very little despite the hype surrounding them. Saudi Arabia, which is hosting the meetings against the backdrop of mounting tension between the United States and Iran, expects the gatherings to back its campaign to force the Islamic Republic to halt its support for regional proxies, including the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon. It is banking on the site and timing of the summits –... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3012642/saudi-arabia-banking-muslim-and-arab-summits-strengthen-its-hand?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3012642/saudi-arabia-banking-muslim-and-arab-summits-strengthen-its-hand?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 31 May 2019 09:49:31 +0000 Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s three-nation tour of Asia is as much about demonstrating he stands tall – despite Western criticism of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the war in Yemen – as it is about exploiting geopolitical and economic opportunity. Prince Mohammed is betting on the optics of his visit to Pakistan, India, and China offsetting talk in the US and Europe about arms embargoes and sanctions. Prince Mohammed changed his itinerary at the last minute, delaying by... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2186570/saudi-crown-prince-mohammed-bin-salman-must-walk-geopolitical?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2186570/saudi-crown-prince-mohammed-bin-salman-must-walk-geopolitical?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 18 Feb 2019 01:50:45 +0000 THERE WAS A high-five from Vladimir Putin. And for Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi it was business as usual. At home, Saudi Arabia’s media trumpeted Mohammed bin Salman’s meetings with world leaders, tweeting pictures of his encounters, which also included the presidents of South Korea, Mexico, and South Africa. However, Western leaders appeared to avoid the crown prince during the family photo at the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires – after almost two months of global outrage at the murder of... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2176027/royal-road-ahead-saudi-prince-leaves-g20-confident-turning?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2176027/royal-road-ahead-saudi-prince-leaves-g20-confident-turning?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 02 Dec 2018 11:27:59 +0000 The warning signs were flashing long before Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s image as the reformer who would take his kingdom into the 21st century was severely tarnished – at least in the West and a smattering of Muslim nations – by the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. There was his insensitivity to mounting criticism of the military campaign in Yemen, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, that sparked one of the worst humanitarian crises since the second world war; the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2170180/khashoggi-killing-saudi-turns-china-mbs-its-business-usual?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2170180/khashoggi-killing-saudi-turns-china-mbs-its-business-usual?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 27 Oct 2018 02:45:45 +0000 Malaysia has emerged as the latest battleground pitting Chinese efforts to export its security notions against principles of the rule of law. The Malaysian Bar Association warned in a pithy statement last week that granting a Chinese demand for the extradition of 11 Uygurs from Malaysia would constitute a violation of international law. If Malaysia’s past record is anything to go by, prospects for the Uygurs who face certain detention in China are not good. “The Malaysian government’s record on... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2133964/battleground-malaysia-china-extends-crackdown-uygurs-across?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2133964/battleground-malaysia-china-extends-crackdown-uygurs-across?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Feb 2018 08:15:30 +0000 China, Russia and the European Union stand to gain from mounting anti-Americanism and fears over the Iranian economy, a new poll suggests. While Iranians are unhappy at two presidents – America’s Donald Trump for his inclination to drop the three-year-old nuclear deal and their own leader Hassan Rouhani for mismanagement of the domestic economy – they largely back Tehran’s nuclear and missile programmes, Maryland-based IranPoll found. The poll is the first major study of public opinion to be... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2132775/how-china-can-benefit-anti-trump-sentiment-iran?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2132775/how-china-can-benefit-anti-trump-sentiment-iran?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 10 Feb 2018 00:30:30 +0000 When the Gulf emirate of Dubai acquired the storied British shipping and logistics firm Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company for US$6.85 billion, it sparked fears that governments could employ cash-rich sovereign wealth funds and state-run companies as political muscle. Twelve years later, with wars raging across the Middle East and external powers jockeying for influence amid Western allegations that China and Russia are manipulating public opinion and buying influence, those fears... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2131619/sovereign-wealth-funds-just-way-china-and-russia-flex-muscles?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2131619/sovereign-wealth-funds-just-way-china-and-russia-flex-muscles?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 Feb 2018 04:05:18 +0000 Chinese engineer Pingzhi Liu went missing almost a month ago. It took Pakistani authorities three weeks to classify Liu’s disappearance as a probable kidnapping that could have significant political and economic consequences. Identifying the mysterious disappearance as a kidnapping is not only embarrassing because Liu was one of thousands of Chinese working in Pakistan who are guarded by a specially created 15,000-man Pakistani military unit. It is also awkward because it coincides with apparent... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2130795/disappeared-chinese-engineer-holds-ties-pakistan-hostage?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2130795/disappeared-chinese-engineer-holds-ties-pakistan-hostage?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 27 Jan 2018 03:00:18 +0000 Self-serving politics threaten not only to strain Pakistan’s relations with the United States, but heighten tensions in the geostrategic region of Balochistan, a vital node in Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative that has been earmarked as home for China’s second foreign military base. Pakistan’s short-sighted political battles are being fought at a time of worsening relations with the US over alleged Pakistani support of militants and concern that the US may withdraw from the 2015 international... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2128696/pakistans-stance-militants-alienated-us-china-next?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2128696/pakistans-stance-militants-alienated-us-china-next?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 21 Jan 2018 05:30:45 +0000 The six-month-old Gulf crisis has expanded to the Horn of Africa, potentially fuelling simmering regional conflicts that could place massive Chinese investment at risk in a part of the world that is home to the People’s Republic’s first overseas military base. Anxieties about the stand-off in the Horn – a region pockmarked by foreign military bases that straddles key Indian Ocean trade routes and 4,000km of coastline – deepened last month when Sudan granted Turkey the right to rebuild a decaying... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2128064/gulf-crisis-expands-horn-africa-and-china-sits-eye-storm?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2128064/gulf-crisis-expands-horn-africa-and-china-sits-eye-storm?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 13 Jan 2018 04:00:15 +0000 Sustained anti-government protests in Iran could give US President Donald Trump the final push he needs to withdraw from the 2015 international agreement that curbed the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme in a bid to further corner the regime in Tehran. The protests could also tempt Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with his chequered foreign policy track record, to embark on yet another risky adventure involving an effort to stir unrest among ethnic minorities in Iran, such as the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2127066/if-trump-and-saudi-arabia-tinker-iran-it-teeters-towards?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2127066/if-trump-and-saudi-arabia-tinker-iran-it-teeters-towards?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Jan 2018 01:32:40 +0000 There’s a silver lining for Asian countries in the six-month old crisis in the Persian Gulf that pits a UAE-Saudi-led alliance against Qatar. That is as long as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates shy away from attempting to harness their financial muscle to shore up lagging international support for their diplomatic and economic boycott of the idiosyncratic oil- and gas-rich state. Asian nations, including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines, whose... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2121480/why-qatar-boycott-could-be-boon-asian-countries?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2121480/why-qatar-boycott-could-be-boon-asian-countries?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 Nov 2017 02:47:29 +0000 Floods in the Saudi Red Sea port of Jeddah have come to haunt the kingdom’s political and economic elite as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched at the weekend an unprecedented frontal attack on members of his ruling family, commanders of the armed forces and some of the country’s wealthiest entrepreneurs. The torrential rain in Jeddah that in 2009 and 2011 caused death and destruction as well as prolonged power outages in the city and prompted dozens to protest about Jeddah’s poor... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2118789/floods-iran-and-chinese-channel-whats-really-behind-saudi-princes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2118789/floods-iran-and-chinese-channel-whats-really-behind-saudi-princes?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 07 Nov 2017 11:15:45 +0000 Protests condemning Myanmar’s violence against the Rohingya are stirring deep-seated emotions across the Muslim world that could backfire on governments and fuel radicalisation. Thousands marched this week in Muslim cities across the globe, including Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, and Grozny demanding an end to what they termed genocide. Glaringly absent from the list were Middle Eastern capitals. “This is a delicate issue that calls for a quick resolution. The protests have the potential of turning... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2110176/plight-myanmars-rohingya-militant-islams-next-rallying-call?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2110176/plight-myanmars-rohingya-militant-islams-next-rallying-call?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 Sep 2017 07:47:37 +0000 Saudi King Salman’s promotion of his son, Mohammed bin Salman, as crown prince at the expense of his nephew, Mohammed bin Nayef, could prove to be a mixed blessing for a kingdom in transition that faces significant international challenges of its own making. Prince Mohammed’s ascendancy was never in doubt. It was a question of when rather than if. Reportedly ill and clearly feeble in his public appearances, King Salman may have wanted to ensure sooner rather than later that his 31-year-old son,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2099472/supporting-womens-driving-and-bombing-yemen-whats-next-saudi?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2099472/supporting-womens-driving-and-bombing-yemen-whats-next-saudi?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 25 Jun 2017 01:30:58 +0000 Islamic State’s targeting of key religious and political symbols in Tehran is likely to aggravate an already escalating proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. A war of words in recent weeks between the two Middle Eastern heavyweights offered Iranian officials a rich background to justify their pinning of responsibility on the Saudis for Wednesday’s simultaneous attacks on the Iranian parliament and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic republic. At least 12... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2097452/pot-kettle-why-iran-blames-saudi-arabia-islamic-state-attacks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2097452/pot-kettle-why-iran-blames-saudi-arabia-islamic-state-attacks?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 08 Jun 2017 07:00:15 +0000 A Saudi and UAE-driven campaign to isolate Qatar, and by extension Iran, puts non-Arab Muslim states and China in a bind and tests the degree of Saudi soft power garnered in decades of massive spending on the propagation of anti-Iranian, anti-Shiite Sunni Muslim ultra-conservatism. The Saudi-UAE campaign, building on an increasingly vicious cyber and media war against Qatar, kicked into high gear on Monday, with the kingdom, the Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt breaking off diplomatic relations and... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2096972/why-saudi-uae-campaign-against-qatar-and-iran-puts-china-bind?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2096972/why-saudi-uae-campaign-against-qatar-and-iran-puts-china-bind?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Jun 2017 09:35:27 +0000 US-backed Saudi plans to destabilise Iran threaten to substantially worsen security in the already troubled Pakistani province of Balochistan, a key maritime and land node in China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Saudi Arabia, emboldened by US President Donald Trump’s visit to the kingdom this month and his embrace of its view of Iran as one of the world’s foremost terrorist threats, sees Iran’s ethnic minorities as a way of destabilising the Islamic republic, if not toppling its... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2095734/us-saudi-plot-iran-spells-trouble-chinas-new-silk-road?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2095734/us-saudi-plot-iran-spells-trouble-chinas-new-silk-road?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 27 May 2017 08:00:45 +0000 One thing this week’s US air strikes in Syria highlight is the fact that the sands are continuously shifting as regional and world powers jockey for position in a future Eurasian world order. The strikes raise questions that go far beyond potential greater US involvement in the Syrian conflict. The answer to those questions will likely impact the role America may play in Eurasia and the Asia Pacific. What is surprising is not the fact that US President Donald Trump ordered the launching of... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2086045/message-us-missiles-syria-carry-regional-power-struggle?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2086045/message-us-missiles-syria-carry-regional-power-struggle?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 08 Apr 2017 12:03:47 +0000 Saudi King Salman’s stop in the Maldives on his month-long tour of Asia brings into focus how this tiny archipelago – best known for high-end tourism and an existential battle against climate change – has emerged as a key player in a regional struggle for influence. Both Riyadh and Beijing are currying favour with the strategically located 820km-long chain of Indian Ocean atolls, in efforts analysts believe are aimed at gaining concessions for military bases. China sees the islands as a node in... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2077913/why-saudi-arabia-china-and-islamic-state-are-courting-maldives?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2077913/why-saudi-arabia-china-and-islamic-state-are-courting-maldives?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Mar 2017 09:03:41 +0000 The spectacle of Saudi King Salman’s tour of Asia is matched by its significance. Attention has focused as much on his 1,500-strong entourage and their 459 tons of luggage – roughly the weight of two Boeing 787 Dreamliners – as it has on expectations of billions of dollars in investment. To be sure, economics is high on the Saudi leader’s agenda. Salman is looking at both strategic investments in Asia as well as Asian investments in the kingdom that will help it diversify its economy and... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2075774/what-saudi-king-salman-wants-his-tour-china-malaysia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2075774/what-saudi-king-salman-wants-his-tour-china-malaysia?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Mar 2017 03:30:45 +0000