Muslim pilgrims wear masks at the Great Mosque in Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca.
Photographer: Abdel Ghani Bashir / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Abdel Ghani Bashir / AFP / Getty Images
When Chinese diplomat Tan Banglin defended the way his country treated Muslims amid international outrage, his comments were less remarkable than where he made them.
In a column last July for one of the most read newspapers in Saudi Arabia – the traditional protector of Muslims worldwide – Tan spoke of how the Communist Party had united with people in Xinjiang Province, leading to “big” changes. That’s how countries were including the US accuses China of putting Uyghurs in detention camps.
The voice given to China‘s consul general in Jeddah, less than 70 kilometers from Islam’s holiest city, Mecca, reflects the new political reckoning under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as he prioritizes more secular national interests at a critical time for the kingdom. And it is one that could serve him well in the government changes in Washington, despite US resistance to Beijing’s actions in Xinjiang.
Portraits of Mohammed bin Salman and King Salman at a construction site in King Abdullah’s financial district in Riyadh.
Photographer: Tasneem Alsultan / Bloomberg
The Saudi worldview is shaped more by hard business calculations, shifting geopolitical realities and the emergence of clean energy as a competitor to oil, as Turkey faces a challenge to leadership in the Sunni Muslim world.
The kingdom has been less outspoken on the Palestinian issue that has been the cause for decades. Saudi support for the Muslim population was notable for its absence from the disputed Kashmir region, with the Pakistani government turning to Turkey while Prince Mohammed expanded trade with India.
“Saudi Arabia suffered from transnational political Islamism, with some of its citizens being among the first to travel to help fellow Muslims but not identifying very much with their own national goals,” said Prince Abdullah bin Khaled, a Saudi academic. “A change of direction was required and very welcome.”
US President Joe Biden has vowed to treat Saudi Arabia as a pariah after four years cozy relationships with his predecessor, Donald Trump. Talks on human rights issues, the devastating war on Yemen and the rivalry with Iran are likely to be uncomfortable when they eventually happen.
There could also be more tension about the 2018 murder critic and columnist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul after Biden’s nominee for national intelligence director this week pledged to release a report on who was responsible for the murder.
Read more: American publication of the Khashoggi report could embarrass the Saudi prince
But Reluctance to intervene abroad under the guise of supporting fellow Muslims – as Turkey does – could score points, according to the government. Emily Hawthorne, a Texas-based analyst at Stratfor who advises clients on geopolitical risks.
“Saudis could see becoming more of an economically focused modernized nation as more important than always nurturing that leadership role in the broader Muslim world,” said Hawthorne. “It’s a gamble, but it could work out well for them when it comes to earning Saudi Arabia. “
Mohammed bin Salman
Photographer: Alexander Zemlianichenko / AFP / Getty Images
Until a few years ago, it would have been rare to see warm praise for a communist party in Saudi Arabia, not to mention the representative of a country censored for alleged persecution of Muslims. In the 1980s, Saudis sent money, and later their sons, to Afghanistan to help fight the Soviet occupation of that country.
Have Saudi relations with China stronger than delivering oil. King Salman, who took the throne in 2015, and the Crown Prince visited Beijing separately. During his 2019 trip, the prince appeared to be defending and drawing down China’s alleged oppression of Muslims a deal to build a $ 10 billion refining and petrochemical complex.
This month, the Chinese Huawei launched its largest flagship store outside of China in the Saudi capital Riyadh. Investment Minister Khalid AlFalih tweeted the news, saying he was “delighted” with the announcement.
Mohammed bin Salman meets with Xi Jinping in Beijing in 2019.
Photographer: How Hwee Young / AFP / Getty Images
It’s a journey that started slowly after September 11, 2001, terror attacks by 19 hijackers, 15 of them Saudi Arabia, and accelerated under Prince Mohammed.
Under pressure to contain extremists, Saudi Arabia successfully campaigned against radicals in the 2000s. Significantly, the late King Abdullah has turned the Saudi national holiday on September 23 into a public holiday, angering radicals who believe that Muslims should not be divided across borders.
When he came to power four years ago, Prince Mohammed inhibited the influence of the powerful religious establishment, gave women more freedom and allowed concerts and cinemas. He also tightened control over how financial aid is distributed abroad, giving it largely to governments rather than directly to Muslim groups. Alcohol, which the Koran prohibits, remains prohibited.
The change was not abandoning Muslim issues, but rather “balancing support for it with the demands, sensitivities and priorities of the state, knowing that different contexts dictate different realities,” said Prince Abdullah, the academic.
Indeed, Saudi Arabia was the first country to be blamed for fueling Islamist terrorism. But after a series of gruesome attacks by jihadists in France last year, it was Turkey that French President Emmanuel Macron instigator.
Prince Mohammed has made it clear that it is the kingdom’s job to care for the two holy mosques in Mecca and Medina and make them accessible to Muslims worldwide.
Source: AFP / Getty Images
Saudi Arabia will always have the physical claim to Islam. Prince Mohammed has made it clear through his actions and decisions that it is the duty of the kingdom to care for the two sacred mosques in Mecca and Medina and make them accessible to Muslims worldwide. One of the goals of his plan to restructure the economy is to expand the two sites and increase the number of pilgrims.
At the same time, the leadership has indicated that it is not the duty of the kingdom to solve the problems of Muslims worldwide.
Then India almost seven decades of autonomy held by the troubled, mostly Islamic state of Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan, which also claims that the region had hoped Saudi Arabia would encourage Muslims around this issue. The kingdom, the largest source of remittances to Pakistan and one of the largest creditors, not.
Instead, Trade with India, which the kingdom sees as a major economic powerhouse, has flourished ever since, as Saudi Arabia seeks to strengthen its position in that country. In the third quarter of 2020, India, along with Egypt, fueled an increase in foreign investment in the kingdom, a key pillar of the Crown Prince’s plan for economic diversification.
Turkey has since strengthened ties with Islamabad. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu opened a new consulate in Pakistan this month, promised to send investors to explore the possibilities and chaired the signing of agreements in the film industry.
Turkish-Pakistani relations are “unique and enviable,” Mujahid Anwar Khan, Pakistan’s chief of air personnel, told the state-run Andalou Agency this month. He thanked the Turkish leaders for their “supportive statements” on Kashmir.
The Saudis are currently losing the soft-power game to Turkey, Hawthorne said. “But they probably appreciate other games.” “Turkey has economic boundaries with regard to the degree to which it is willing to sacrifice its own economic interests in order to acquire soft power. This is never a zero-sum game. ”