The main goals Saudi King pursues in his Asian tour

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman began his Asian tour today by visiting Malaysia. In his month-long tour, Salman aims also at visiting Indonesia, Brunei, Japan, China and Maldives.

کد خبر: ۶۷۱۷۰۵

تاریخ: ۰۸ اسفند ۱۳۹۵ - ۱۶:۰۰

Tabnak – Saudi Arabia’s King Salman began his Asian tour today by visiting Malaysia. In his month-long tour, Salman aims also at visiting Indonesia, Brunei, Japan, China and Maldives. Having a look on the list of the countries he wants to visit, together with Riyadh’s overall foreign policy trend, could lead to the conclusion that the Saudi King pursues both economic as well as political goals by his tour.

At the political level, one should remind that Malaysia and Indonesia as two Muslim-majority countries could have an important role in Riyadh’s long-standing quest to be recognized as the leader of the Islamic world. With about 203 million people identifying themselves as Muslims, Indonesia in fact has the largest Muslim population in the world. Malaysia also has about 19.5 million Muslim populations which consists more than 61 percent of its total population.

In December 2015, when the Saudis announced their so-called anti-terrorist coalition, these two Asian countries were among the list of its members published by the Saudi officials. However, they soon declared that their inclusion in the coalition had been a unilateral move by the Saudis and they had not even been aware of it. However, it clearly showed that to what extent pulling these countries into their orbit is important for the Saudis.

Recently, after the election of Donald Trump as the President of the United States, Saudi Arabia has started a new round of activism in its foreign policy, aiming at consolidating their old alignments and establishing new ones in order to enhance their hand in the regional balances of the Middle East.

In this vein, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir visited Baghdad Yesterday, with improving the strained ties with Iraq at the top of his agenda. The trip interpreted by some observers as a move by Riyadh to create a more favorable regional situation for itself, so that it could more easily focus of the current hot-points which are of greater significance for the Kingdom, such as Yemen and Syria. In the same vein, Salman’s Asian tour could be interpreted as an attempt to duplicate Saudi’s new regional approach at a wider international arena.

Along with the political goals, economic interests are also considered by the Saudis in this tour. As mentioned by Reuters, state oil firm Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) and Saudi Aramco will sign an agreement on Tuesday to collaborate in Malaysia's Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) project, a boost for the Southeast Asian economy which has been reeling under weak global oil prices.

Malaysia also eyes attracting Saudi investments. "Saudi Arabian investment in Malaysia is expected to create thousands of jobs and we are proud that Malaysian firms have been chosen to undertake projects at some of the most prestigious locations in Saudi Arabia," Reuters cited Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak as saying.

Further to the north, Saudi Arabia obviously aims at consolidating its trade and economic ties with China and Japan. Interactions in the fields of energy, technology and investment are expected to be at the stake when Salman visits Beijing and Tokyo.

A delegation of more than 600 people was accompanying Salman when he arrived in Malaysia today. According to "The Star Online”, the group included captains of industries and businessmen. Salman is also accompanied by at least 100 Saudi bodyguards and security personnel, besides about 40 journalists.