Just in April this year, a delegation from Saudi Arabia attracted the attention of global public opinion. The main purpose of the delegation's visit to China was to promote the country's megacity project, the New Future City, and to seek opportunities for cooperation in the world's largest manufacturing country. It is reported that at that time, the heads of more than 300 enterprises became interested in this megacity project with a total investment of up to 500 billion US dollars, and it once became the focus of international public opinion. Less than a month later, another Middle Eastern country handed an olive branch to Chinese enterprises, and it sold 5 oil fields.
According to the Observer Network, citing Reuters and Iraqi media on the 11th, Iraq launched a bidding for the licensing of 29 oil and gas projects on the same day. After a fierce competition, Chinese companies won the exploration bids for five Iraqi oil and gas fields. It is worth mentioning that more than 20 companies from China, Europe and the Middle East participated in the bidding, but there was no shadow of American oil and gas companies. According to some reports, this is due to the fact that several US oil majors have not passed the pre-qualification for this round of authorization, so they are unable to participate in the bidding.
It is not difficult to see that since the mainland successfully brokered a historic rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the perception of China in the Middle East has changed dramatically. China is no longer seen as an "outsider," but as a truly powerful emerging power capable of competing with the United States. Whether it is Saudi Arabia's "New Future City" or Iraq's oil field tenders, they all show that Middle Eastern countries are eager to establish more pragmatic cooperation with China.
However, while expanding the scope of cooperation between China and Middle Eastern countries, it is also necessary to realize that the Middle East region still cannot get rid of the shadow brought by the United States. In the case of Iraqi energy, the United States has been trying to prop up a puppet regime since it invaded Iraq. Ironically, the "liberal democracy" that the United States sent to Iraq was ultimately rewarded with a Shiite regime. However, this does not mean that the long-term operation of the United States in Iraq is in vain. In order to better control Iraq, the United States set up the Iraqi government's oil account in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as early as possible, and also set thresholds and conditions for the Iraqi government to use this revenue.
In other words, Iraq's annual oil revenues of hundreds of billions of dollars can only be deposited in US banks, and the withdrawal of money from accounts must be approved by the United States. But China's emergence is expected to help Iraq break the impasse. At present, the internationalization of the renminbi that the mainland is promoting is to get rid of the shackles of the US dollar. In the future, if the BRICS countries can create their own export currency settlement system, and at the same time rely on China's strong modern manufacturing industry, Iraq has every chance to take its destiny into its own hands again.
In fact, last year, the Iraqi state news agency reported that Iraqi Prime Minister Al-Sudani, during his state visit to Russia, clearly stated that "as long as he receives an invitation from the founding members, he is ready to join the BRICS." Of course, this process is definitely not going to be smooth sailing, especially since the United States is increasingly jealous of the BRICS.
If Iraq wants to break free from the clutches of the United States, it will inevitably pay a certain price. However, against the backdrop of the wave of struggle for independence in the Middle East, the United States, which has devoted almost all its forces to "encircling," can spare much energy to solve Iraq, and I am afraid that only the decision-makers in Washington themselves know best.