{"id":9339,"date":"2022-07-18T20:15:12","date_gmt":"2022-07-18T20:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/congokin.blog\/?p=9339"},"modified":"2022-07-18T20:15:12","modified_gmt":"2022-07-18T20:15:12","slug":"as-biden-reaches-out-to-mideast-dictators-his-eyes-are-on-china-and-russia-english-version","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/congokin.blog\/?p=9339","title":{"rendered":"As Biden Reaches Out to Mideast Dictators, His Eyes Are on China and Russia (English version)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><em>As Biden Reaches Out to Mideast Dictators, His Eyes Are on China and Russia<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking to make Moscow pay for its Ukraine war, and box China out of Mideast tech deals, the U.S. president tries to fall back on old Gulf alliances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Haut du formulaire<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bas du formulaire<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/congokin.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-2-1024x682.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9340\" srcset=\"https:\/\/congokin.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-2-1024x682.png 1024w, https:\/\/congokin.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-2-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/congokin.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-2-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/congokin.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-2-1536x1023.png 1536w, https:\/\/congokin.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-2-1320x879.png 1320w, https:\/\/congokin.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-2.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Credit&#8230;Doug Mills\/The New York Times<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/david-e-sanger\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/peter-baker\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>By&nbsp;<\/strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/david-e-sanger\">David E. Sanger<\/a><\/strong><strong>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<\/strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/peter-baker\">Peter Baker<\/a><\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>July 16, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cn.nytimes.com\/world\/20220718\/biden-saudi-arabia-china-russia\/\">\u9605\u8bfb\u7b80\u4f53\u4e2d\u6587\u7248<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/07\/16\/world\/middleeast\/biden-saudi-arabia-china-russia.html\">\u95b1\u8b80\u7e41\u9ad4\u4e2d\u6587\u7248<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia \u2014 During his painful encounters with a series of Arab strongmen here in Saudi Arabia this weekend,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/spotlight\/joe-biden\">President Biden<\/a>&nbsp;kept returning to a single reason for renewing his relationship with American allies who fall on the wrong side of the struggle he often describes as a battle between \u201cdemocracy and autocracy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe will not walk away and leave a vacuum to be filled by China, Russia or Iran,\u201d Mr. Biden said at a session on Saturday with nine Arab leaders in a cavernous hotel ballroom in this ancient port on the Red Sea. \u201cAnd we\u2019ll seek to build on this moment with active, principled American leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr. Biden\u2019s framing of America\u2019s mission as part of a renewed form of superpower competition was revealing. For decades, American presidents largely saw the Middle East as a hotbed of strife and instability, a place the United States needed a presence largely to keep oil flowing and eliminate terrorist havens. Now, more than 20 years after a group of Saudis left this country to stage terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and strike the Pentagon, Mr. Biden is driven by a new concern: That his forced dance with dictators, while distasteful, is the only choice if his larger goal is to contain&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/spotlight\/russia\">Russia<\/a>&nbsp;and outmaneuver China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re getting results,\u2019\u2019 he insisted on Friday night as he emerged from a meeting with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who clearly sees the opportunity to get diplomatic rehabilitation after Mr. Biden refused to see him for months, accusing him of complicity in the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/07\/16\/world\/middleeast\/biden-khashoggi-truth.html\">murder of Jamal Khashoggi<\/a>, the Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr. Biden\u2019s effort here to negotiate greater oil production \u2014 jarring enough for a president who came to office vowing to help wean the world from fossil fuels \u2014 is driven by the need to make Russia pay a steep price for invading Ukraine. So far, that price has been scant: Not only are the Russians continuing to collect substantial oil and gas revenues, they are even supplying Saudi Arabia, Reuters reported recently, with fuel for its power plants \u2014 at discounted prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Image<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"937\" height=\"625\" src=\"https:\/\/congokin.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-3.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9341\" srcset=\"https:\/\/congokin.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-3.png 937w, https:\/\/congokin.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-3-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/congokin.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-3-768x512.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 937px) 100vw, 937px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Oil tankers near the seaport of Ras Tanura in Saudi Arabia.Credit&#8230;Christophe Viseux for The New York Times<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps the most notable of Mr. Biden\u2019s flurry of announcements with the Saudis was an agreement signed Friday night to cooperate on a new technology to build next-generation 5G and 6G telecommunications networks in the country. The United States\u2019 main competitor in that field is China \u2014 and Huawei, China\u2019s state-favored competitor, which has made significant inroads in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is all part of a larger Biden administration effort to begin pushing back on Beijing in parts of the world where for years the Chinese government has made progress without feeling much competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Three weeks ago,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/06\/29\/world\/europe\/nato-expansion-ukraine-war.html\">at the NATO summit meeting<\/a>, Mr. Biden celebrated a new \u201cstrategic concept\u201d for the Western alliance that, for the first time, recognized China as a systemic \u201cchallenge,\u201d describing its policies as coercive and its cyberoperations around the world as malicious. The doctrine said that along with Russia, Beijing was trying to \u201csubvert the rules-based international order,\u201d words similar to those the Biden administration has used on this trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After that summit, European officials said they would focus on pushing back on China\u2019s influence inside Europe, and on reducing dependency on its electronics, software and other products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>President Biden\u2019s Visit to the Middle East<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The U.S. president traveled to Israel and Saudi Arabia, after branding the latter&nbsp;country a \u201cpariah\u201d state following the brutal assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian journalist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The effort here in Jeddah is similar \u2014 to show that the United States will help push back on Chinese and Russian influence. Mr. Biden outlined a five-part \u201cnew framework for the Middle East\u201d that included supporting economic development, military security and democratic freedoms. \u201cLet me conclude by summing all this up in one sentence,\u201d he said. \u201cThe United States is invested in building a positive future in the region in partnership with all of you, and the United States is not going anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a room full of unelected autocrats and absolute monarchs, he made a point of nudging them on human rights a day after his meeting with Prince Mohammed, who according to the C.I.A. ordered the 2018 operation that killed Mr. Khashoggi. Freedom of dissent, he said, would make them stronger, not weaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Image<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"937\" height=\"625\" src=\"https:\/\/congokin.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-4.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9342\" srcset=\"https:\/\/congokin.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-4.png 937w, https:\/\/congokin.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-4-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/congokin.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-4-768x512.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 937px) 100vw, 937px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>At the Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Jeddah on Saturday.Credit&#8230;Doug Mills\/The New York Times<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He made no mention of the fact that looms over the Middle East countries\u2019 commercial dealings with Beijing: They know that China\u2019s investments come without lectures, much less sanctions, for human rights violations. But Mr. Biden tried to make the case that freedom and innovation go hand in hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve gotten plenty of criticism over the years. It\u2019s not fun,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the ability to speak openly and exchange ideas freely is what unlocks innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr. Biden also sought to reassure the Sunni Arab leaders around the table that his efforts to negotiate a renewed nuclear agreement with their Shiite nemesis in Iran would not put them in jeopardy. \u201cAs we continue to work closely with many of you to counter the threats posed to the region by Iran, we\u2019re also pursuing diplomacy to return constraints on Iran\u2019s nuclear program,\u201d Mr. Biden said. \u201cBut no matter what, the United States is committed to ensuring that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The session with the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council, along with the leaders of three other Arab states, came after Mr. Biden met separately with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, where&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2022\/07\/16\/world\/middleeast\/egypt-prisoners.html\">tens of thousands of political prisoners are locked up<\/a>&nbsp;and Mr. Sisi has been waging a relentless crackdown on dissent. Mr. Biden made no comment on that when reporters were in the room for the first few minutes, but instead thanked Mr. Sisi for \u201cthe incredible assistance\u201d in Gaza, where Egypt has promised to help rebuild following last year\u2019s brief war between Hamas and Israel. Aides said he would raise human rights in private.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the contest with China, the United States still has close ties throughout the Middle East, with business interests that flowed in for decades after the discovery of oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet pushing back on China\u2019s influence in the region will be an uphill struggle, as many of the president\u2019s advisers acknowledge. China has made sweeping progress in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Image<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"937\" height=\"596\" src=\"https:\/\/congokin.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-5.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9343\" srcset=\"https:\/\/congokin.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-5.png 937w, https:\/\/congokin.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-5-300x191.png 300w, https:\/\/congokin.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-5-768x489.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 937px) 100vw, 937px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>President Biden meeting with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt in Jeddah on Saturday.Credit&#8230;Doug Mills\/The New York Times<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While America was fighting wars in the region, China\u2019s \u201cBelt and Road\u201d development initiative was advancing across the Gulf, even building a major port in the United Arab Emirates \u2014 until work stopped following American warnings to the U.A.E. that Beijing\u2019s real purpose was to create a stealth military base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In January, Chinese officials held a virtual meeting with Saudi officials about selling military gear to the kingdom, a recognition that Chinese arms are now significantly higher-tech than they were even just a few years ago. (Decades ago, Saudi Arabia bought some giant intercontinental ballistic missiles from China, triggering fears it might be exploring building nuclear weapons, but that concern has not come to fruition.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Huawei has been wiring up the region, quietly installing its networks on the theory that the country that controls the flow of electrons across national networks will hold extraordinary control over the region\u2019s infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During the Trump administration, the United States warned allies that if they signed up with Huawei and other major Chinese suppliers, Washington would cut off their access to intelligence reports and limit their participation in military alliances. But it was all stick and no carrot, since there was no alternative American product to offer them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What Mr. Biden was holding out this weekend is a new technology, called \u201cOpen-RAN\u2019\u2019 for Open Radio Access Networks, which runs largely on software and access to information in the cloud \u2014 all areas where the United States holds advantages. Over months of negotiation, American officials worked out a \u201cMemorandum of Understanding\u201d in which Saudi Arabia will essentially turn itself into a test bed for using the system on a large scale \u2014 even though Huawei has already deployed its networks throughout country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Image<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"937\" height=\"625\" src=\"https:\/\/congokin.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-6.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9344\" srcset=\"https:\/\/congokin.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-6.png 937w, https:\/\/congokin.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-6-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/congokin.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image-6-768x512.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 937px) 100vw, 937px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A Huawei store in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in February.Credit&#8230;Wang Haizhou\/Xinhua via Getty Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat is the thinking of the project,\u201d said Anne Neuberger, the deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies. \u201cQuickly build up a prototype here in Saudi Arabia, prove that it works at scale, and become a model for the region.\u201d She called it a \u201cpragmatic, reality-based project.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Asked about the American strategy, Saudi officials went to some lengths to say they were not trying to edge China out of anything \u2014 and that they could accommodate both Western and Chinese telecommunications systems. The Saudi ambassador to the United States, Princess Reema bint Bandar al-Saud, compared having coexisting technologies to having \u201ca Starbucks, and a Coffee Bean,\u201d or \u201ca McDonalds and a Burger King.\u201d But networks are far more complex, because they need to operate with each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Skeptics wonder about whether the Cold War framing of the need to rekindle alliances in the Middle East is more of an excuse for oil deals than a real interest in deep engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s true that China\u2019s making some inroads,\u2019\u2019 said Kori Schake, the director of foreign and defense studies at the American Enterprise Institute. \u201cBut those are the natural result of China\u2019s energy needs and oil producers experiencing a bonanza because of Russia\u2019s invasion, and the U.S. under the last three presidents declining to retaliate for Iranian attacks on Gulf States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBut it\u2019s also the result of Biden administration policy setting up the China challenge as democracy vs autocracy,\u2019\u2019 she added, \u201cwhich puts Saudi on the Chinese side of the ledger.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>David E. Sanger is a White House and national security correspondent. In a 38-year reporting career for The Times, he has been on three teams that have won Pulitzer Prizes, most recently in 2017 for international reporting. His newest book is \u201cThe Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage and Fear in the Cyber Age.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SangerNYT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">@SangerNYT<\/a>&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/david.e.sanger\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Peter Baker is the chief White House correspondent and has covered the last five presidents for The Times and The Washington Post. He also is the author of six books, most recently \u00ab\u00a0The Man Who Ran Washington: The Life and Times of James A. Baker III.\u00a0\u00bb&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/peterbakernyt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">@peterbakernyt<\/a>&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/peter.baker.351\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A version of this article appears in print on&nbsp;July 17, 2022, Section&nbsp;A, Page&nbsp;8&nbsp;of the New York edition&nbsp;with the headline:&nbsp;Biden\u2019s Goal in the Mideast: Countering China and Russia.<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align:center\" class=\"wps-pgfw-pdf-generate-icon__wrapper-frontend\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/congokin.blog?action=genpdf&amp;id=9339\" class=\"pgfw-single-pdf-download-button\" ><img src=\"https:\/\/congokin.blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-generator-for-wp\/admin\/src\/images\/PDF_Tray.svg\" title=\"G\u00e9n\u00e9rer un PDF\" style=\"width:auto; height:45px;\"><\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As Biden Reaches Out to Mideast Dictators, His Eyes Are on China and Russia Looking to make Moscow pay for its Ukraine war, and box China out of Mideast tech deals, the U.S. president tries to fall back on old Gulf alliances. &nbsp; Haut du formulaire Bas du formulaire Credit&#8230;Doug Mills\/The New York Times By&nbsp;David [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-analyse","category-diplomatie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/congokin.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/congokin.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/congokin.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/congokin.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/congokin.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9339"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/congokin.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9345,"href":"https:\/\/congokin.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9339\/revisions\/9345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/congokin.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/congokin.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/congokin.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}