By Al-Monitor Staff,
UAE has “no interest in choosing sides between great powers”
ABU DHABI — Anwar Gargash, Diplomatic Advisor to UAE President Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said this week that while “the UAE has no interest in choosing sides between great powers, our primary strategic relationship remains unequivocally with the United States.”
Speaking at the ninth annual Abu Dhabi Strategic Debate organized by the Emirates Policy Center, Gargash said that UAE foreign policy seeks “zero problems” with the region and has staked out a unique space as a conduit and facilitator of diplomacy between East and West.
“As a medium-sized power, we also need to be pragmatic,” said Gargash, and “we sometimes need to engage with people we find distasteful,” adding that the UAE will choose “quiet diplomacy instead of outspoken criticism” in its conduct of foreign policy. See Salim Essaid‘s report on the topic.
Gargash’s take on the United States and China, the “great powers,” is not unique to the UAE and the Middle East.
In a separate panel discussion on Europe at the debate, a similar theme emerged. While European countries are closer to the United States on China, including regarding concerns about human rights and climate, they are not necessarily all in on making China the focus of their national security strategy, as the United States has done.
For the Middle East and much of the world, the divisions outlined in the US National Security and Defense strategies between democracies and autocracies and between the United States and China foreshadow increasing unease in the region with a likely escalation of the “strategic competition” between Washington and Beijing.
The Biden administration’s security strategy considers the next 10 years a “decisive decade” in dealing with China. The “choices” the US strategy references extend to countries outside the Indo-Pacific to increasingly align with US policy and “deliver results.”
US allies and partners are, according to the strategy, “clear-eyed” about the nature of China’s challenges, but the choices required may be increasingly blurry. The question is how long they can continue to opt out.
The case is well presented by Evan Feigenbaum, vice president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, former US deputy assistant secretary of state and top American China expert.
As the United States increases sanctions and regulatory pressures on Chinese technology firms, Feigenbaum explains, the choice required by countries could include falling afoul of US laws and regulations. While US trade and investment in the Middle East still outpaces China, an “us or them” choice may not be an easy one for the region.
One area where China can’t compete is the long-standing close US political and security ties in the Middle East. The region prefers American arms, and China has so far shied away from deepening its security and diplomatic footprints, preferring to keep its focus on investment, trade and energy ties. Howard Shatz has the take here in an Al-Monitor Pro memo.
While there may be some unease in the Gulf with the US security commitment in the region, none of the GCC states consider China a possible substitute, especially to deter and contain Iran. This is what Gargash meant by unequivocal US-UAE security ties.
Showdown at new Abu Dhabi crypto hub
Al-Monitor correspondent Salim Essaid was there at Abu Dhabi Finance Week when Noubil Roubini, chief economist at Atlas Capital, slammed Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, who had just appeared on the previous panel.
Roubini said that Binance should not be allowed to operate in the UAE, that the crypto currency system was totally corrupt and, in a tweet highlighting his remarks, referred to Galxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz, who also appeared at the Abu Dhabi Global Market forum, as a “lunatic.”
Both Zhao and Novogratz are “rats and roaches,” Roubini tweeted.
The crypto market has recently lost two-thirds of its peak valuation. Binance is the largest crypto infrastructure provider in the global $1 trillion cryptocurrency industry, reaching more than 120 million users. The company is being investigated by the US Justice Department for possible violations of money-laundering rules, Reuters reported last week.
Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) launched a crypto hub this week, despite the market downturn. ADGM is an economic free zone subject to its own English common law-based system. The ADGM court system announced this week that it would adopt blockchain technology to seal court rulings. See our report about it.
Salim Essaid breaks down the questions and complexities of the crypto market in the UAE and worldwide, including whether the crux of the challenge is the tradeoffs of high asset returns and inadequate security, faulty regulatory practices or whether the technology that supports the crypto market is flawed to begin with.
