【Reporter Connection】
When the wishful Thinking United States meets the calm Arab
Biden's trip to the Middle East is a bit "awkward"
Cairo, 18 Jul (Guangming Ribao) -- Xiao Tianyi, a reporter of Guangming Ribao in Cairo
The "Security and Development" summit, attended by the leaders of six GCC member states and the United States, Egypt, Jordan and Iraq, closed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on the 16th. Since the 13th, US President Biden has shuttled back and forth between Israel, Palestine and Saudi Arabia, organized a number of bilateral and multilateral, online and offline summits, covering security, energy, economy and trade, science and technology, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Iranian nuclear threat and other fields, and seems to want to make up the "debts" he ignored in the Middle East after taking office. However, as egypt's famous TV media program "Cairo Talk" said, in the face of a more united, cooperative, and integrated Arab world, Biden and the US hegemony behind it can only engage in dialogue on the basis of equal cooperation.
Is the harvest full or in the form?
It seems that the United States itself is aware that this visit has been questioned by the outside world, so it updated the results of the visit and cooperation on the official website of the State Department for the first time, and issued a number of "clarification statements" to clarify the "pragmatic cooperation" attitude of the United States to the Middle East. Biden recognizes the region's important role in global trade and technology. He also strongly affirmed the CentralIty of the Middle East for the long-term security and prosperity of the United States and the American people. In the statement, Biden pledged to provide $1 billion in food security assistance to the Middle East and North Africa, and promoted Iraq's integration into the Gulf power grid, maintained a long-term ceasefire agreement in Yemen, supported Egypt in hosting the 27th Conference of the Parties to the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, and signed 15 cooperation agreements with Saudi Arabia, including nuclear energy, 5G, space and communications. From an economic and trade perspective, cooperation between the United States and major Arab countries in the region has grown rapidly. In Egypt, for example, U.S. investment in Egypt totaled $24 billion in fiscal year 2021-2022 as of May this year, an increase of about $15 billion over the same period in 2020-2021, with investments concentrated in energy, petrochemicals, infrastructure, tourism, agriculture and industry.
However, in some regional cruxes, such as the Palestinian-Israeli issue, the Syrian issue, the Libyan issue, the Iranian nuclear agreement, etc., Biden's trip has not made significant achievements, and the oil production of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in the short term has also reached its limit, as Biden said in his speech, the United States and Arab countries have many differences. If you avoid talking about these core differences and whitewash the peace, it is undoubtedly a cover-up.
Equal communication or interests first?
Egyptian Senator Imad Aldin Hussein believes that this is the first time an Arab country has felt talking to the United States in an equal way, and that building such a relationship is a huge bonus. Egypt's "Charter" newspaper also said that the relationship with the United States has changed from hegemony to a political strategic dialogue based on common interests, "Egypt believes in the power of logic, the logic of opposition forces."
"Egyptian Today Network" published that many US politicians and politicians agreed that the importance of the Middle East region has been seriously reduced, the United States' dependence on Middle East oil has decreased, and Israel has become strong enough and does not need the security umbrella of the United States, which has made the United States reduce its interest in the region. However, short-term energy price increases brought about by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and severe inflation in the United States have forced the United States to return to the Middle East. More importantly, when the United States "left," the countries in the Middle East established good relations with China and Russia and reached a "plan to replace the existence of the United States." As a result, the countries in the Middle East have gained the strength and confidence to face the United States more calmly, and proposed that the United States should treat Arab countries on the basis of cooperation and common interests and with an equal attitude.
"The future of energy requires clear planning of priorities to achieve security, stability and prosperity, strengthening the role of common cultural and social ties based on mutual respect among the countries of the region and addressing security and political challenges in achieving comprehensive economic development," said Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Promoting peace or harboring evil intentions?
For the outcome of the summit, the United States high-profile publicity will accelerate security cooperation with its ASEAN countries and promote a peaceful Middle East. In particular, the United States claims to be committed to advancing more integrated and regional networked air defense and missile defense architectures and countering the threat of drone systems and missile proliferation to non-state actors.
However, many experts have questioned whether the US trip can promote the prosperity and stability of the Middle East, and Yizat Ibrahim, editor-in-chief of the Egyptian official media "Pyramid Weekly", believes that the US proposal to establish a security system is incomplete and unclear, and pointed out that the top priority of the United States is to return to the negotiating table and use negotiations to ensure that Iran will not take any military action.
In an interview with Israeli media, Biden said that the use of force as a last resort against Iran will not be ruled out and will not allow Iran to destabilize the region. He also said earlier in the month that he favored joining the "Middle East version of NATO" with like-minded countries, but did not specify which countries would cooperate.
The United States has also vigorously hyped up the military cooperation and threats between Russia and Iran. On July 12, the White House announced that iran would provide Russia with hundreds of drones based on intelligence at its disposal to help Russian forces fight local forces in eastern Ukraine.
And such a threat seems to have become a one-man show for the United States. Saudi Arabia is reluctant to stir iran's sensitive nerves, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal issued a statement at the press conference after the summit clearly pointed out that "there is no Arab NATO, this is not at the negotiating table." He also said Iraq played an "important and fundamental" role in resolving tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which was committed to reaching rapprochement with Iran.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Kanani said in a statement that the United States "once again resorted to the failed policy of Iranophobia in an attempt to create tensions and crises in the region."
Israel seems to be extremely dissatisfied with the "negative" attitude of the Arab countries, and the Times of Israel will point the finger at Iraq, saying that the United States and Israel want to unite the Middle East against Iran, but Iraq is a "roadblock" because Iraq has passed legislation prohibiting any exchanges with Israel. Including Iraq in a regional missile and drone defense framework is positive for the United States to cooperate with Israel against Iran, and the United States should push Iraq to repeal the law.
Overall, regardless of the outcome of Biden's trip, Arab countries have strengthened their diplomatic autonomy through the Jeddah summit. Saudi Foreign Minister Al-Faisal stressed that the Jeddah summit clearly highlighted the maturity of the joint Arab action system, noting that Arab countries are focusing on their own affairs, following their own agendas and engaging with all parties from this perspective. He explained that Arab leaders realized that they had a responsibility to provide prosperity for their people and that the future of the Arab states was in their own hands.
Guangming Daily (2022-07-19, 16th edition)
Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily