Asia-Gulf Economic Relations in the 21St Century: the Local to Global Transformation

Asia-Gulf Economic Relations in the 21st Century: The Local to Global Transformation Edited by Tim Niblock with Monica Malik GerlachPress First published 2013 by Gerlach Press Berlin, Germany www.gerlach-press.de © Gulf Research Center Cambridge 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or reproduced, or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any other information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Cover Design: www.brandnewdesign.de Set in ACaslonPro by Dataworks, Chennai, India www.dataworks.co.in Printed and bound in Germany by Freiburger Graphische Betriebe www.fgb.de Bibliographic data available from German National Bibliography http://d-nb.info/1028505930 ISBN13: 978-3-940924-10-0 (hardcover volume) ISBN13: 978-3-940924-11-7 (eBook) Contents Introduction 1 Tim Niblock 1. Gulf-Asia Economic Relations, Pan-Gulf and Pan-Asia Perspectives 5 Tim Niblock 2. The Growing Roles of Asian Powers in the Gulf: A Saudi Perspective 35 Naser al-Tamimi 3. Iran’s Ties with Asia 63 Sara Bazoobandi 4. Turkey and the Gulf: An Evolving Economic Partnership 85 Özlem Tür 5. Russia and the Gulf: the Main Principles of the Political and Economic Dialogue 99 Nikolay Kozhanov 6. Situating the Gulf in India’s Engagement with Emerging Asia 123 Girijesh Pant 7. India and the Emerging Gulf: Between “Strategic Balancing” and “Soft Power” Options 147 K. M. Seethi Asia-Gulf Economic Relations in the 21st Century 8. The Economic Relations Between China and the GCC Countries since 2008 171 Chen Mo 9. China and Iran: Special Economic Partners 189 Huang Minxing and Ji Kaiyun 10. Mobilizing Muslim Minority, Targeting Arab Trade: China’s Ningxia as the Islamic Hub for China-Arab Connections 209 Ho Wai-Yip 11. China and the Gulf: The Social and Cultural Implications of Their Rapidly Developing Economic Ties 225 Jacqueline Armijo 12. Beyond Food for Fuel: the Little Red Dot in GCC-ASEAN Relations 241 Sofiah Jamil 13. What Determines Malaysia’s Interest in the GCC? 265 Mohamed Fauzi Abu-Hussin and Mohamed Afandi Salleh 14. Small is Beautiful: South Korean-Gulf Relations as an Example of Strategic Engagement by Players in Different Arenas 289 Joachim Kolb 15. Japan’s Engagement in the Gulf 319 Yukiko Miyagi in collaboration with Yoshikazu Kobayashi, Akiko Yoshioka and Koji Horinuki 16. Japan and the Gulf: Balancing the Business Relationship 341 Yoshio Minagi List of Contributors 367 vi Chapter Eleven China and the Gulf: The Social and Cultural Implications of their Rapidly Developing Economic Ties Jacqueline Armijo 1. Introduction Over the past five years, China’s relations with the major GCC countries (Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, and Qatar) have developed rapidly, in both the scale and range of joint ventures, investments, and trade. Billions of dollars worth of manufactured goods, fossil fuels, and sovereign wealth investment funds are traveling back and forth between the Gulf and China, and increasing numbers of people and cultural exchanges are accompanying them. And although these exchanges are based on present-day economic and development needs, both the Chinese and the Gulf countries are well aware of the historic ties between these two regions and regularly refer to these ties when announcing new initiatives. Although trade was the foundation of relations between China and the Gulf that began during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE), over the centuries these relations evolved into a wide range of exchanges including scientific knowledge (of astronomy, medicine, pharmacology); engineering expertise (military, architectural, and hydraulic); Islamic scholarship; knowledge of Arabic and Persian, and artistic skills and craftsmanship. Today, although trade once again dominates relations 225 Asia-Gulf Economic Relations in the 21st Century between these two regions, cultural, artistic, and scholarly exchanges have begun to develop as well. This chapter focuses on the lives, legacies, and present-day influences of the people who in the past, and again today, are travelling back and forth between China and the Gulf. Beginning with traders, from the earliest days of Islam to the present rush of businessmen today, the chapter then focuses on the growing number of Chinese workers in different fields coming to the Gulf. The next section describes the rapid development of the tourism industry and its related fields, followed by a section on educational exchanges and initiatives. The final section deals with cultural exchanges, using the recent extraordinary exhibit by the Chinese modern artist Cai Guo-qiang, at Mathaf: The Arab Museum of Modern Art, as a case-study. 2. Trading Traders from the Gulf had been traveling to China since the earliest days of Islam, first settling in Guangzhou (Canton), and later in Quanzhou. So many Arab and Persian traders made Quanzhou their home that they gave it a new name Zaytun, or “olive”. These traders made the long and often treacherous trip to China on traditional dhows built in the Gulf region. The boats were packed with frankincense and other local aromatics from the region before setting off to the main ports of India and Sri Lanka where they picked up pearls, gemstones, ivory, spices, and other lightweight luxury goods, before heading up through the Straits of Malacca where additional spices were added to their cargo, and finally into the South China Sea and the port cities of China. As for the trade items that the Gulf traders brought back with them, it was not until 1998 and the discovery of a 9th century shipwrecked dhow off the coast of Indonesia, that the extent of the Chinese manufacturing for export industry was revealed. The dhow was on its way home, fully packed with over 70,000 pieces of pottery and porcelain when it went down off the Indonesian island of Belitung. When the captain of the hand-sewn dhow1 set off for China, he must have been well aware of the goods available for manufacture there, as many of them appear to have been commissioned with certain regional tastes in mind. The small boat, only 60 feet in length, was able to hold the 70,000 objects as they were carefully stored in large earthenware jugs that were then tightly packed in layers of rows along the bottom of the boat. The logistical details and extent of the range and quality of the porcelain and precious metal cargo of this small ship were carefully documented in an exhibit that 226 The Social and Cultural Implications of their Rapidly Developing Economic Ties took place at ArtScience Museum in Singapore in 2011. A small replica of the dhow as well as a selection of the 60,000 surviving pieces was displayed. In addition to ceramics of various sizes and patterns, the cargo also included finely crafted works of gold and silver.2 The cargo was destined for the major entrepôts of the Gulf in the ninth century: Siraf and Basra. And while the mass-produced ceramic bowls were most likely bound for the souqs of Baghdad and Shiraz, the ornate and delicate carved silver and gold pieces may have been intended for the royal courts of the Abbasid empire. 2.1. Yiwu Today, over a millennium later, ships from China laden with layers and layers of custom-made goods, are once again setting off for the Gulf and the marketplaces there. But today the container ships are mostly filled with inexpensive mass- produced goods manufactured in the small city of Yiwu. Located 250 km south of Shanghai, and 150 km inland from the major port of Ningbo, the city of Yiwu, more than any other place in China, has customized its manufacturing output to the designs and desires of the residents of the Gulf and the Middle East. Although Guangzhou is still the largest and most important trade center in China, over the past decade Yiwu has been able to develop a multi-billion dollar export market by specializing in mass-produced inexpensive custom-made goods. Yiwu boasts the largest small commodities wholesale market in the world, with 62,000 booths that sell more than a million different products. According to recent Chinese government statistics, in 2010 the annual market turnover in Yiwu reached $9.6 billion.3 Small business owners from throughout the world and especially the Middle East began flocking to Yiwu in 2001, shortly after China’s admission to the WTO. Some businessmen were fleeing unrest at home, while others were entrepreneurs quick to take advantage of China’s supportive policies regarding export trade. In addition, the growing demand for consumer goods in the Middle East in general and the Gulf in particular has created an ideal environment for trade to flourish. A further factor facilitating the strong trading ties between the local Chinese manufacturers and the Arab traders is the presence of several Arab businessmen in Yiwu who graduated from China’s top universities, are completely fluent in Chinese, and decided to stay in China after completing their studies to promote business ties. Approximately 200,000 Arab businessmen travel to Yiwu every year to place manufacturing orders, and there are now over 20,000 Arab residents living in Yiwu. 227 Asia-Gulf Economic Relations in the 21st Century Some have brought their wives with them, while others have married Chinese women. Their children attend local schools where they learn both Chinese and Arabic. While some families plan to stay in Yiwu indefinitely, others plan to move back to the Middle East when their children are older. Although Yiwu does not have a local Chinese Muslim population, over the past few years, thousands of Chinese Muslims from other regions of China have moved there to take advantage of the job opportunities created by Arab owned businesses.

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