by Kristian Coates Ulrichsen
Saudi
Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz is conducting a six-country tour of
Asia that will take him to Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Japan, China,
and the Maldives. Aside from its monthlong duration, the trip is
significant for the commercial and strategic messages it conveys in the
context of Saudi Arabia’s ambitious program of economic reform and
efforts to balance global power and geopolitical influence. The visit is
consistent with the Saudi “pivot to Asia” in recent years, based around
a set of common interests in trade, energy, and counterterrorism.
Moreover, at a moment of such international uncertainty, the Saudi
leadership will be keen to portray a kingdom that remains attractive to,
and open to business with, a wide array of partners in regional and
world affairs.
Relations
between Saudi Arabia and Asian states have come a long way in a
comparatively short period as formal diplomatic ties with China, for
example, were only established in 1990. Successive Saudi leaders have
recognized that the structure and pattern of world trade is changing and
have readjusted pragmatically to take advantage of those shifts. Saudi
Arabia’s late King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz notably made China the
destination for his first major international visit as monarch in
January 2006, visited India later the same year, and in 2010 upgraded
the Saudi-Indian relationship into a Strategic Partnership. In 2014, as
crown prince, Salman made two lengthy trips to Asia
during which he visited Pakistan, China, India, Japan, and the
Maldives, and came away with a raft of agreements across the defense,
security, energy, and infrastructure sectors.
