Connectivity between the Gulf Cooperation Council and Asia
BUSSOLA INSTITUTE
The relationship between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and Asian states like China, India, Japan and Korea has long been complementary. Whereas the former have become among the most important and largest producers of oil and gas in the world, the latter have been at the centre of economic growth over the past few decades. The growth of their economies has been sustained by rising energy imports, of which the GCC is a historic and reliable supplier, and contain around a third of known oil reserves.
While the focus of the GCC-Asia relationship has concentrated on the energy dimension, it is, however, only one part of what is becoming a more complex set of exchanges. Increasingly, there is a more diverse economic relationship, which includes other forms of cooperation and partnership, from participation in construction and development of energy and non-energy related infrastructure, to ports, roads and other transport links. In addition, the links are becoming more financial as well, with investments in real estate, health care and financial services.
Beyond the economic dimension, there are stirrings within the security field as well. But in contrast to the energy and other commercial dealings between the GCC and Asia, these forms of engagement are less defined and concrete. A key part of this uncertainty is due to the status of the US and its historic position as the regional hegemon and security guarantor for the Arab Gulf states. Over the past decade the US position has come under challenge, both within the US and from others, inside and outside the region, including the Asian states themselves.
