In a 2016 issue of Forbes magazine, Helen H. Wang wrote, “The new Silk Roads already have momentum. Earlier last year, Beijing announced $46 billion in investment in a planned China-Pakistan economic corridor, ending at the Arabian Sea port of Gwadar.”China’s interest in expanding its influence into MENA (Middle East and Northern Africa) is obvious.
Writing for China Daily, Pu Zhendong and Li Xiaokun state, “Xi (China’s leader) said China and Arab nations should establish a cooperative framework centered on energy cooperation, with infrastructure along with trade and investment as ‘two pillars,’ and aim for high-tech breakthroughs in nuclear energy, aerospace, and new energy.”
If China’s “Long Game” is global hegemony, it will need either to control the production of oil in the Middle East or to have strong allies there.Naturally, China will not express that sentiment; it continues with its message of peaceful cooperation.“The next decade,” according to Xi, “poses a critical development period for both China and Arab states, which calls us to carry forward the Silk Road spirit and rejuvenate our countries.”