In the news today...
China-MENA stories I’ve been reading today:
I wrote over the weekend that China has shuffled some ambassadors in key regional posts, with Chung Hua going from Tehran to Riyadh. Cong Peiwu arrived in Tehran on Friday to assume his new post as ambassador to Iran. Unlike Chung, whose career has been deep in the Gulf/MENA, Cong’s background is North America. He’d been ambassador to Canada since 2019, the low point in the bilateral relationship, spanning the detention of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, the PRC ‘spamoflage’ disinformation campaign, and a report from Canada’s intelligence agency, CSIS, that China interfered in Canadian elections. So maybe going to Iran is meant to give Cong a break? In any case, an odd transition. If anyone has an explanation I’d love to hear it.
This piece on Chinese cars flooding GCC markets. Anecdotally, this holds up - it seems every other Uber I take in Abu Dhabi is a Chinese ev lately, and it’s seemed to happen overnight. Some details from the article:
over 648,110 Chinese cars have been imported to Saudi Arabia over the past 5 years at a value of $9.42 billion
Saudi has become the 6th biggest market for Chinese car exports
“Saeed Al-Basami, head of the National Committee for Cars at the Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry, notes that nearly 40% of Saudis now prefer Chinese brands. This shift is largely driven by the aggressive market strategies of Chinese manufacturers, including substantial investments in marketing and after-sales services, which have significantly increased their market share in Saudi Arabia.”
The Hongqi H5 is retailing for $47,000 with a 7-year warranty. Hard to beat that price.
Related, I know Chinese car companies have been big in Iran, which will be a post for another day, but if you have access you might be interested in this academic article from Shirzad Azad, which describes what he calls the “China-ization” of the Iranian car market, claiming “China has now become the biggest overseas player in Iran's automobile market.”
A shift in Chinese oil purchases from Saudi: “The volume of Saudi crude to be loaded for China is estimated to fall by 5.8 million barrels in June from 45 million barrels in May, the sources said.”
And finally, this op-ed from the China Daily, “Onus on US to stop Gaza conflict and grant Palestine full UN membership”, by Li Yang. The conclusion:
“As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the US should put aside its own interests and work for world peace and humanity, undertaking its global responsibility. The UN Security Council is a platform to resolve issues and not create divisions or hijack the global peace agenda for one's own narrow ends by abusing its veto power.”