Saudi Arabia's goals of adopting a new approach in the field of foreign policy
Saudi Arabia's new approach in the field of foreign policy should not be interpreted as a confrontation with the United States, rather, this country intends to strengthen the components and tools of its power against the unilateral pressure of the United States and increase its acting capacities through the balance of power.
NOURNEWS - Saudi foreign policy has been accompanied by significant changes and approaches in recent months.
One of the topics raised in this process is the constructive and positive approach of Saudi Arabia to the improvement and development of relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, which after months of mediation by Iraq and Oman in an accelerated process hosted by China, the implementation and initial agreement between the officials of the national security institutions of the two countries in It was done in March.
In another step, with the meeting of the foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia hosted by China and the publication of a joint statement, the implementation of agreements as soon as possible to improve the level of relations was emphasized.
In response to the adoption of a new approach by Saudi Arabia in the field of foreign policy, several views have been proposed by regional and international experts and analysts.
Some have spoken about the change in Saudi Arabia's strategy in regional and international relations and have attributed Riyadh's adoption of new positions as a result of Saudi distancing itself from the unilateral view of the West, and others have tried to create a balance between the Eastern and Western powers along with reducing regional tensions that the West has used as an excuse. In order to play a greater role in West Asia, they have taken into account Saudi Arabia's main goal of making changes in its foreign policy.
A detailed evaluation of the analyzes and views presented about why the changes in Saudi policies in the regional and extra-regional spheres without careful consideration of the processes governing the behavior of Saudi Arabia since the coming to power of the Salman family cannot provide a true picture of the current situation.
A look at Saudi Arabia's track record during the reign of the Salman family shows that Saudi Arabia, centered on Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has undertaken extensive plans to transform Saudi Arabia into the first economic and technological power in the region in the form of the Neom Project since 2015.
The follow-up of the implementation of this plan has started with plans of several hundred billion dollars, while some calculation errors at the beginning of the Salman family's rise to power in Saudi Arabia made this process practically accompanied by many challenges.
On the one hand, Saudi Arabia's entry into the war in Yemen, despite the billions of dollars in financial costs and significant human losses, along with the destruction of Saudi Arabia's regional and global position, is merely a factor for securing the interests of Western arms factories and blackmailing them in the name of supporting the resigned government of Yemen in international forums.
On the other hand, contrary to Saudi calculations, Western companies, banks and capitalists lacked an independent approach and policy from their governments, and based on the wishes of their statesmen, they practically shied away from fulfilling their obligations towards Saudi development plans and demands.
It didn't take long for the leaders of Saudi Arabia to realize that the economy and capitalism are part of the tools of Western power to dominate countries, and in practice, they do not provide modern technology and knowledge to other countries, and they are only looking for a consumer market for their goods, which are practically Bensalman's development plans are inconsistent.
The sudden and irresponsible withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan, as well as the behavior of Washington in Ukraine to advance militarily towards the east and contain Russia, showed that playing the security card is one of the most important approaches of the West to create instability and abuse it in the path of increasing influence and dominance. on the vital resources of other countries.
Furthermore; The West's instrumental use of the structural situation governing Saudi Arabia, which in the form of hereditary monarchy and the lack of capacity to transform it into a Western democracy, has practically become the Achilles' heel for abuse and blackmail, and has led Riyadh to this strategic conclusion that it cannot rely entirely on the West in take steps towards the implementation of ambitious development plans.
In the context of evaluating Saudi Arabia's new actions in the field of foreign policy, several main axes are noteworthy:
First; Saudi Arabia seeks to reduce security tensions beyond its borders, which is an important component to reduce Western pressure on this country for security reasons.
Second; Being aware of the economic challenges in the West as well as its monopolistic economic and technological approaches, Saudi Arabia seeks to find new economic and technological capacities to support its economic plans.
Third; Saudi Arabia, which until now was known as a permanent and sometimes cheap energy source for the West, is now trying to turn energy sources from a place to earn money into a power generation tool, especially in creating a balance against the West.
Saudi Arabia's new measures to normalize relations with Iran, moving towards ending the Yemen crisis, reviving relations with Syria, not going along with the Westerners' desire to put pressure on Russia in the Ukraine war, reducing oil production in the midst of the energy crisis in the West and The establishment of strategic relations with China can be evaluated in the framework of the realization of these goals.
The important thing is that the Saudis are not looking for a confrontational approach with America with these behaviors, but they are trying to strengthen the components and tools of their power against the unilateral pressure of the United States, and with the balance of power, they can increase their acting power.
Accomplishing this important role, along with playing a role in the new world order that is being formed beyond Western unilateralism, is inevitable and necessary for the implementation of Bin Salman's ambitious plans to turn Saudi Arabia into a regional economic power with the ability to influence political, security and economic developments at the global level.
Among this adoption of this new approach, the remarkable thing that can influence the change of Saudi behavior is the influence of the protests and the turbulent atmosphere imposed on Iran in the fall of last year.
While Iran is considered to be a democratic government based on people's opinions due to its democratic political structure, the West organized very intense internal and especially external pressures against Iran by using cognitive and combined warfare tools, which few governments in the world can tolerate.
The heads of Riyadh are well aware of the fact that creating such a process from the West in Saudi Arabia is simply possible, and it is not unlikely that they will seek to return Riyadh to the cycle of subjugation against Western unilateralism by using human rights tools and creating an atmosphere of internal tension.
The Saudi leaders, with full respect for the possibility of the West using this tool to challenge Riyadh, are intelligently trying to multiply and strengthen their power levers to create an effective deterrent against such a war before entering into such a process. Basically, it is not possible to take such measures against Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, on the one hand, China and Russia are permanent members of the Security Council, who have the capacity to support Saudi Arabia, and on the other hand, unlike the West, these countries do not seek to dominate and change or weaken the political structure that governs this country.
Based on this, it can be seen that after the warm welcome of "Xi Jinping" and multi-layered agreements with Beijing, along with Russia in OPEC+, Riyadh has accepted China's mediation in the relations between Riyadh and Tehran, in order to overcome regional tensions, from the capacity Emerging powers such as China should take advantage of the benefits of cooperation with the West along with Russia and the management of fruitless regional tensions in order to make maximum use of China's need for energy in the Persian Gulf to create a balance with the West and manage regional tensions.
Future developments, along with the actions and reactions of other actors affecting regional and international equations, will determine to what extent Saudi Arabia's new approach can support the country's desired goals to achieve a new regional position.
BY: Mohammad Ghaderi
NOUNEWS