Saudi Arabia is looking to renew its friendships in Asia as the global strategic balance of power and wealth continues to tip towards the east. Many Asian states are set to become substantial global forces, and Gulf states like Saudi Arabia need to be an intimate part of that major shift. Saudi Arabia sells a substantial quantity of oil to Asian countries, but it should convert that transactional relationship into a more strategic partnership.
This underlies the importance of King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz’s tour of five Asian states. He first visited Malaysia and is currently in Indonesia. In both countries, his visit is expected to trigger increased Saudi investment in the two economies, but will also define ways to support diversification of the Saudi economy. The two-way development of trade and investment is important to both parties.
But Saudi Arabia is also looking for more political support as it heads the Islamic Military Alliance against terror. Indonesia and Malaysia are majority Muslim states and they have both suffered from terrorist activities, and King Salman has been working to create a regional and Muslim response to terror such as wielded by organisations like Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant). This has to happen at both the military and security levels, but also at a social and intellectual level as the global community of majority Muslim nations rally to regain the initiative from terrorists and their terrible agenda of destruction and chaos.
During his visit to Indonesia, King Salman promised to share intelligence and experience as he said: “We know Indonesia has suffered from terrorism and bombing. We can exchange data, we can exchange experience and we can defeat these people.” The two states already have intelligence officers training in each other’s operations to support their joint work to defeat Daesh and radical networks sympathetic to its agenda.
Later in his tour of Asian states, King Salman will visit Japan and China, where the agenda will be more about developing closer economic ties, as Saudi Arabia is a vital part of the two Asian economic giants’ economic hopes as a main supplier of energy. King Salman has planned to use this part of his Asian trip to emphasise the importance of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which has been sponsored by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman and is intended to bring about far-reaching reforms as Saudi Arabia seeks to diversify its economy and modernise its society.
