The Dollar’s Decline Reinforces China’s Role in the Middle East

The dollar is facing fallout from the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan.

LONDON/JERUSALEM – An economic analyst specializing in Asian and Middle Eastern affairs declared that over the next two decades, trade relations between China and Arab countries will strengthen dramatically, due to China’s need for the region’s oil and gas resources, and the high demand for Chinese products in those countries.

In an interview on CNN’s “Middle East Marketplace” program, Ben Simpfendorfer noted that this development is associated with the shaky position of the United States and the dollar if Washington fails to achieve its goals in Iraq and Afghanistan, especially considering that its withdrawal would mark the “end of the American Empire.” He also mentioned Saudi Arabia’s initiative to strengthen its relationship with Beijing and counter-balance the U.S.’s role in the region.

Simpfendorfer, author of “The New Silk Road,” said that oil and gas constitute the major Chinese attractions to the region.

He added, “the Middle East will be the source of more than two thirds of the new oil that will enter world markets during the next two decades, while China will be responsible for two-thirds of the growth in global consumption during that same period. Thus, there are objective factors that attract, regardless of the two parties’ desire to build these relations.”

Furthermore, when asked about the fate of the “sacred economic trinity,” which used to depend on the export of oil from the Middle East to China and then the export of Chinese products to the United States, Simpfendorfer replied, “this trinity is disappearing.”

He said, “we expect that the U.S.’s demand will fall sharply over the next two years, while demand is growing strongly in the Middle East, where China’s need for the region’s oil increases. As a consequence, this increases the strength of Chinese-Middle East relations.”

The economic analyst noted that Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz made his first foreign visit after taking office to China, not America, and added that Saudi Arabia is “seeking opportunities to identify the parameters of its relationship with the United States via strengthening its links with China.”

While talking about risks that threaten the dollar if the U.S. fails militarily in Iraq and Afghanistan, Simpfendorfer said, “many experts say that withdrawal from Iraq or Afghanistan will show the inability of the United States to impose its power worldwide, and this will ultimately affect the dollar because it will be considered one aspect of the American Empire’s regression.”

Simpfendorfer did not deny that the Chinese desire not to involve politics in its economic relations with the Middle East has had a significant impact on increasing its role in the region, unlike Western countries, which have always tried to address the issue of democratic governance.

When asked about his attitude concerning the imposition of sanctions on Iran, Simpfendorfer replied, “with the increasing role of the East, the need to review the policy of sanctions on Iran arises because, in that case, the United States deprives itself of developing trade lines through unilateral sanctions while Iran’s trade with the East increases.”

It is noteworthy that China topped the list of exporters to the Middle East and North Africa this year, as its exports rose to $59 billion against a decline of American exports to $53.8 billion, moving it to second place.

Relations between China and the region go back hundreds of years due to the “Silk Road” that linked China to Europe through the Middle East. Therefore, Chinese companies are currently seeking oil and gas in the Gulf and in North Africa; $16 billion were allocated for this purpose.