By Denis Korkodinov
With the limitation of the contingent of American troops in Syria, the White House administration confirmed his lost of interest for the Middle East. This allowed Beijing to gain a strong position in the region. Now such a balance of power is unlikely to change. Beijing is interested in spreading its influence, primarily in Iraq, which pave the way to Europe through the Chinese project “One belt – one road.”
China is currently seeking control of Iraq’s oil fields. In particular, the Chinese engineering company Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corp recently won a tender for the development of facilities located near the West Qurna-1 field. The total value of the contract was $ 121 million. A particularly noteworthy fact in this story is that Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corp is part of China National Petroleum Corp, the largest holding company, which is closely associated with the Chinese leadership. In addition, Beijing received the right to produce gas in Iraq, which under these conditions is fully consistent with the Chinese model of peaceful expansion.
The situation is such that against the backdrop of the growth of the protest movement, caused, inter alia, by regular blackouts in the country, Baghdad authorities cannot prevent China from spreading its influence in the region. The fact is that Iraq, which is one of the five countries with huge gas reserves, is forced to purchase electricity from Iran due to an ineffective resource allocation system.
This has led to the fact that the cost of electricity in Iraq has become an expensive pleasure. And, given the significant state budget deficit, Baghdad was not able to compensate for the “energy” expenditures of the population, which became one of the main causes of social unrest. Meanwhile, China’s participation in the development of Iraqi gas fields can solve the problem of electricity shortages, and, therefore, can serve as the basis for a sharp decline in protest sentiments in Iraq. In addition, the Iraqi leadership is extremely impressed by the fact that the development of gas infrastructure in the country will be carried out at the expense of someone else.
China, apparently, is aware that in modern conditions Baghdad will be happy with any help. This provides Beijing with an almost complete carte blanche for gas development. Nevertheless, due to the extremely unstable situation in Iraq caused by the threat of a coup, Chinese investors prefer not to rush to invest large sums of money in the Iraqi economy. It is most preferable for them to wait until the formation of a new cabinet of official Baghdad in order to get clear guarantees that their money will not be wasted.
(The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of World Geostrategic Insights)