ABU DHABI // Chinese companies are turning their attention towards secure and stable countries in the Middle East such as the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
“[Business] prospects are very bright between China and the GCC,” said Prof Pan Guang, vice chairman and director of the Shanghai Centre for International Studies.
However, the turmoil in the region has hurt China’s economic relations with the Middle East. For instance, container transport and insurance costs for more than 30,000 businesses had increased because of the conflicts, said Prof Pan.
He said there were 200,000 Chinese expatriates in Dubai and their companies had been making significant investments in construction in Arab countries.
But since 2011, the companies had been repatriating their workers, including 36,000 from Libya, because of the conflicts, said Prof Pan.
On Tuesday, a Chinese warship in the Indian Ocean transported 500 Chinese workers in Yemen back to China, he said.
In southern Iraq, three Chinese-owned oilfields were not affected by the fighting, but 2,000 Chinese workers in northern Iraq were repatriated.
“Chinese companies are now diverting attention to more stable countries … and we are doing more in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar,” Prof Pan said. “Prospects are very bright between China and the GCC.”
However, Richard Makepeace, registrar at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, was glum about the prospects for peace elsewhere in the region.
“I am pessimistic about the position in Palestine. The Israeli election is bad news, and I do not see a likely new US government or president taking a more positive line,” he said.
“I am simply not sure how much the Palestinians can take without there being another major outbreak of violence.”
Mr Makepeace said he felt the same about the civil war in Syria, adding that a political solution was needed.
“I am more optimistic about the position on Iraq, with the solidarity being shown by regional countries and support from outside,” he said.
“There should be scope to make very significant progress and one can never underestimate the importance of how Egypt develops and the fact that it has made a very clear decision in favour of stability against a leap in the unknown, which could be seen by historians as a turning point.”
cmalek@thenational.ae