China's hegemony suits Middle East - international expert Voyger

Mark Voyger commented on Espreso on the resumption of China-brokered relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which was announced on March 10 in a joint statement by the two countries.

“China is again playing a role here, and in this regard, it is possible to point to a huge success, at least in the information space. We'll see if it's realistic, because it's one thing to sign a deal, but it's another to have Iran supporting many organizations and forces in the Middle East that are really enemies of Saudi Arabia, the rebels in Yemen and all Shiite organizations. Therefore, there are structural problems that cannot be solved by a single agreement. But really, the problem is that for many years the United States had other priorities - the China Sea, of course, NATO, Ukraine, and Russia. There are many politicians and analysts who have said that the United States needs to stay away from the Middle East, that there are problems there, and so on. Accordingly, the Middle Eastern powers see this, and for them Iran is an existential threat,” the ex-adviser to the former US Army commander said. 

Voyger added that there is a principle in international politics that without a hegemonic power, small countries look for a new ruler, a new great power.

Although the US 5th Fleet remains in Bahrain, there is a feeling that because of America's problematic relationship with Saudi Arabia, the region lacked a clear power center.

“We used to think that it would be Russia, which was in dialogue with all countries in the Middle East. Now Russia is an outcast, and the Arab powers see this. Therefore, it is logical that the other great power is China, which does not demand that either the Arab world or Iran change their policies or become democratic. There is no pressure like there is from the democratic West or America to reform and make other internal changes. And for the Middle East countries, China is now more convenient. It seems that China is many thousands of kilometers away, it is not a direct threat, but it has a lot of influence, and this is a victory, unfortunately, for China. Accordingly, Xi will probably be in Moscow with the feeling that he has already solved one of the major global problems in the Middle East, and may now try to solve another problem, the most difficult problem, the Russian one,” the international expert said.

• On March 10, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to restore diplomatic ties.