Tabnak – Saudi Arabia’s King Salman began his Asian tour
today by visiting Malaysia. In his month-long tour, Salman aims also at
visiting Indonesia, Brunei, Japan, China and Maldives. Having a look on the
list of the countries he wants to visit, together with Riyadh’s overall foreign
policy trend, could lead to the conclusion that the Saudi King pursues both
economic as well as political goals by his tour.
At the political level, one should remind that Malaysia and
Indonesia as two Muslim-majority countries could have an important role in
Riyadh’s long-standing quest to be recognized as the leader of the Islamic
world. With about 203 million people identifying themselves as Muslims, Indonesia
in fact has the largest Muslim population in the world. Malaysia also has about
19.5 million Muslim populations which consists more than 61 percent of its
total population.
In December 2015, when the Saudis announced their so-called
anti-terrorist coalition, these two Asian countries were among the list of its
members published by the Saudi officials. However, they soon declared that
their inclusion in the coalition had been a unilateral move by the Saudis and
they had not even been aware of it. However, it clearly showed that to what
extent pulling these countries into their orbit is important for the Saudis.
Recently, after the election of Donald Trump as the
President of the United States, Saudi Arabia has started a new round of
activism in its foreign policy, aiming at consolidating their old alignments
and establishing new ones in order to enhance their hand in the regional
balances of the Middle East.
In this vein, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir visited
Baghdad Yesterday, with improving the strained ties with Iraq at the top of his
agenda. The trip interpreted by some observers as a move by Riyadh to create a
more favorable regional situation for itself, so that it could more easily
focus of the current hot-points which are of greater significance for the
Kingdom, such as Yemen and Syria. In the same vein, Salman’s Asian tour could
be interpreted as an attempt to duplicate Saudi’s new regional approach at a
wider international arena.
Along with the political goals, economic interests are also
considered by the Saudis in this tour. As mentioned by Reuters, state oil firm
Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) and Saudi Aramco will sign an agreement on
Tuesday to collaborate in Malaysia's Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated
Development (RAPID) project, a boost for the Southeast Asian economy which has
been reeling under weak global oil prices.
Malaysia also eyes attracting Saudi investments. "Saudi
Arabian investment in Malaysia is expected to create thousands of jobs and we
are proud that Malaysian firms have been chosen to undertake projects at some
of the most prestigious locations in Saudi Arabia," Reuters cited Malaysian
Prime Minister Najib Razak as saying.
Further to the north, Saudi Arabia obviously aims at
consolidating its trade and economic ties with China and Japan. Interactions in
the fields of energy, technology and investment are expected to be at the stake
when Salman visits Beijing and Tokyo.
A delegation of more than 600 people was accompanying Salman
when he arrived in Malaysia today. According to "The Star Online”, the group included
captains of industries and businessmen. Salman is also accompanied by at least
100 Saudi bodyguards and security personnel, besides about 40 journalists.
