What's the chance of a China-GCC free trade agreement?
CGTN
With foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain arriving in Beijing with the head of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Nayef Al-Hajrah, on January 10 for a five-day visit, could the long-hoped-for Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between China and the Arab Gulf states finally be on the cards?
Expectations that this might be the case have been raised in several quarters, including by Chinese scholars like Li Shaoxian, the director of the China Institute for Arab Studies at Ningxia University, and Yin Gang, a researcher at the Institute of West Asian and African Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. They see the visit as a positive contribution to restarting talks, which also echoes similar statements of intent by Chinese officials, like Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Indeed, Wang's most recent words follow similar declarations he made during his own visit to the region in March last year.
If negotiations for an FTA are on the cards, it would help institutionalize China's relationship with the six GCC states in the Gulf. Already, several of China's closest and most important connections to the Middle East are based there, including with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with whom it has comprehensive strategic partnerships – the highest form of diplomatic recognition and collaboration China can offer another country – and strategic partnerships (the next level down) with Kuwait, Oman and Qatar.
The high value that China places on the GCC states reflects their growing importance. Although their relationship is sometimes portrayed in simple terms – i.e., the Arab Gulf states as producers of oil and gas that they sell to China – the economic reality is far more complex.
