Foreign relations of Saudi Arabia


stated policy is focused on co-operation with the oil-exporting Gulf States, the unity of the Arab world, Islamic strength and solidarity, and support for the United Nations. In practice, the main concerns in recent years have been relations with the US, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Iraq, the perceived threat from the Islamic Republic of Iran, the effect of oil pricing, and using its oil wealth to increase the influence of Islam. Saudi Arabia contributes large amounts of development aid to Muslim countries. From 1986 to 2006, the country donated £49 billion in aid.
Although a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, Saudi Arabia was once described as leading the "Pro-Western Camp" of Arab countries, aligned with the U.S. and composed of Egypt, Jordan, and Arab states of the Arabian Gulf. Saudi Arabia and the United States are close strategic allies and partners. However, the relationship became strained and witnessed major decline during the last few years of the Obama administration, but has since greatly strengthened following the election of President Donald Trump who has since forged close ties with the Saudi royal family. Islam is the main religion of Saudi. China and Saudi Arabia are major allies, with relationship between the two countries growing significantly in recent decades. A majority of Saudi Arabians have expressed a favorable view of China.
As a founding member of OPEC, Saudi Arabia's long-term oil pricing policy has been to keep prices stable and moderate—high enough to earn large amounts of revenue, but not so high as to encourage alternative energy sources among oil importers, or jeopardise the economies of Western countries where many of its financial assets are located and which provide political and military support for the Saudi government. The major exception to this occurred during the 1973 oil crisis when Saudi Arabia, with the other Arab oil states, used an embargo on oil supplies to pressure the US to stop supporting Israel.
Saudi Arabia is a founding member of several multinational organizations, including OPEC, the United Nations, the Arab League. It is also a founding member of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Muslim World League, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and the Islamic Development Bank—all of which are headquartered in Saudi. The country plays a prominent role in the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and in 2005 joined the World Trade Organization.
According to a UCLA history professor, Saudi Arabia recently has become much more active in terms of foreign and security policy for three reasons: the Arab uprisings of 2010 and 2011, the policies of the Obama administration and the collapse of oil prices.

History

After World War II and during the Cold War, Saudi Arabia maintained an anti-Communist, anti-secular Arab nationalist policy, often working with the leading anti-Communist power, the United States. Following the 1973 oil crisis, where Saudi Arabia and other Arab oil exporters embargoed the United States and its allies for their support of Israel, oil revenues increased dramatically and it worked to become the leading Islamic state, spending generously to advance Islam and particularly its conservative school. The effect has been to purify and unify Islamic faith, according to supporters, and to erode regional Islamic cultures, according to others.
with U.S. President Ronald Reagan and real-estate tycoon Donald Trump in 1985
Saudi Arabia and its oil policy are thought to have contributed to the downfall of Soviet Communism in the late 1980s and early 1990. Saudi helped to finance not just the Afghan Mujahideen but non-Muslims anti-communists. It also seriously harmed the Soviet Communist cause by stabilizing oil prices "throughout the 1980s, just when the Russians were desperate to sell energy in order to keep up with huge hikes in American military spending."
Following King Fahd's stroke in 1995, Abdullah, then Crown Prince, assumed responsibility for foreign policy. A marked change in U.S.-Saudi relations occurred, as Abdullah sought to put distance between his policies and the unpopular pro-Western policies of King Fahd. Abdullah took a more independent line from the US and concentrated on improving regional relations, particularly with Iran. Several long-standing border disputes were resolved, including significantly reshaping the border with Yemen. The new approach resulted in increasingly strained relations with the US. Despite this, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia were still close nevertheless. In 1998, Abdullah paid a state visit to the U.S. and met with then President, Bill Clinton.
In 2003, Abdullah's new policy was reflected in the Saudi government's refusal to support or to participate in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Some US critics saw this as an attempt by the royal family to placate the kingdom's Islamist radicals. That same year Saudi and U.S. government officials agreed to withdraw all U.S. military forces from Saudi soil. Since ascending to the throne in 2005, King Abdullah has followed a more activist foreign policy and has continued to push-back on US policies which are unpopular in Saudi Arabia. However, increasingly, in common with the US, fear and mistrust of Iran is becoming a significant factor in Saudi policy. In 2010, the whistle blowing website WikiLeaks disclosed various confidential documents revealing that King Abdullah urged the U.S. to attack Iran in order to "cut off the head of the snake". Saudi Arabia has long since used its alliance with the United States as a counterbalance to Iran's influence in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia and other Arab states of the Persian Gulf have looked to the United States for protection against Iran.
Relations with the US and other Western countries have been further strained by the perception that Saudi Arabia has been a source of Islamist terrorist activity, not just internally, but also world-wide. Osama bin Laden and 15 out of the 19 September 11 attacks hijackers were Saudi nationals, though some officials argue that this was planned deliberately by bin Laden in an attempt to strain U.S.-Saudi relations, and former Central Intelligence Agency director James Woolsey described Saudi Arabian Wahhabism as "the soil in which al-Qaeda and its sister terrorist organizations are flourishing." Some in the U.S. Government also believe that the royal family, through its long and close relations with Wahhabi clerics, had laid the groundwork for the growth of militant groups like al-Qaeda and that after the attacks had done little to help track the militants or prevent future atrocities.
As announced at the 2009 Arab League summit, Saudi Arabia had intended to participate in the Arab Customs Union to be established in 2015 and an Arab common market to be established by 2020.
Following the wave of early 2011 protests and revolutions affecting the Arab world, Saudi Arabia offered asylum to deposed President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia and King Abdullah telephoned President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt to offer his support.
Pro-democracy Saudi activist, Iyad el-Baghdadi, received high amount of traction on his Twitter handle for his sarcastic commentary on Arab leaders. Following this, el-Baghdadi was arrested and expelled from the United Arab Emirates and was forced to leave without official charges or trial. He has been living under political asylum in Norway since 2015. On 25 April 2019 el-Baghdadi was alerted by the CIA about his life being under an ‘unspecified threat’ emerging from Saudi Arabia, following his open criticism of the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman. Norwegian authorities have ensured his security.

Islam

According to the FFGI at Goethe University Frankfurt, wahhabist ideology is spread globally with organisations closely associated with the government of Saudi Arabia such as the Muslim World League and the World Association of Muslim Youth are actively participating.
According to government-associated paper Ain Al-Yaqeen article in 2002, Saudi government-sponsored projects were active in non-Muslim countries in Europe, North and South America, Africa, Australia and Asia. These encompassed 210 Islamic centres which were completely or partly funded by the Saudi kingdom, 1500 mosques, 202 colleges and almost 2000 schools. The House of Saud has inaugurated 1359 mosques in Europe.
In February 2019, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman defended Xinjiang re-education camps for Muslims, saying "China has the right to carry out anti-terrorism and de-extremisation work for its national security." China has imprisoned up to 2 million Muslims in concentration camps, where they are subject to abuse and torture.

Bilateral relations

Africa

America

Asia

Trade relations

In 2012, Saudi Arabia was the 10th largest trading partner of the Philippines, 31st and 8th largest market in the export and import market respectively. Saudi Arabia was also the Philippines' largest trading partner and import supplier, and second largest export market in the Middle East. According to the Saudi government, trade between Saudi Arabia and the Philippines amounted to $3.6 billion in 2011, a bigger figure from compared to the previous year's trade figure amounting to $2.7 billion.

Labor relations

As of June 2013, there are about 674,000 Filipinos working in Saudi Arabia according to the Saudi Ministry of Interior. A landmark agreement on Filipino household service workers were signed between Saudi Arabia and the Philippines. The agreement was the first for Saudi Arabia with a labor-supplying country.
In 2012, about 150,000 Filipino female nurses are working in Saudi Arabia. This accounts for 25 percent of the total number of Overseas Filipino Workers in the Kingdom.
In 1969, an agreement with Qatar was reached about their borders after three years of dispute. A final agreement about the Qatar border was signed in 2001.
After a March 2014 meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain announced the recall of their ambassadors to Qatar.
Some financial economists have interpreted the 2014 Saudi–Qatari rift as the tangible political sign of a growing economic rivalry between oil and natural gas producers, which could "have deep and long-lasting consequences" beyond the Middle East-North Africa area.
On 5 June 2017, Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relations, as well as other ties, with Qatar. Saudi Arabia explained the decision by referring to Qatar's “embrace of various terrorist and sectarian groups aimed at destabilising the region”, including the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaida, Islamic State, and groups supported by Iran in the kingdom's eastern province of Qatif.
Relations between South Korea and Saudi Arabia were established in 1963. South Korea has an embassy in Riyadh, and a consulate-general in Jeddah. Korean International School of Jeddah covers the Korean syllabus and taught subjects in Korean language. In business, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the largest exporter of oil to the Republic of Korea and Number of Koreans living in Saudi Arabia in : 5,215. Also, ARAMCO Korea was established in 2012. In 2016, two-way trade volume reached US$29.04 billion with South Korea exporting cars, electronic goods, steel and other items to Saudi Arabia and importing oil and other petrochemical products from it. Now, South Korea is described as a "core" partner for the Saudi Vision 2030 project, noting progress in joint efforts to flesh out their cooperation scheme to realize the vision.
President Bashar Al Assad welcomed King Abdullah Al Saud in Damascus in October 2009. The relations between the two countries have greatly deteriorated in recent years, following the Syrian civil war. On 26 February, Syria blamed the Saudi government for arming the rebels with weapons from Croatia, a charge both governments deny. Due to the ongoing Syrian Civil War, Saudi Arabia closed its embassy in Syria.
Relations between Saudi Arabia and Thailand were established in 1957. The country enjoyed a very friendly and strongly strategic partnership The historically friendly and strategic relationship between Thailand and Saudi Arabia have drastically deteriorated since the 1990s, following the Blue Diamond Affair. Diplomatic missions were downgraded to the chargé d'affaires level and the number of Thai workers in Saudi Arabia plummeted. Saudi Arabia does not issue working visas for Thais and discourages its citizens from visiting the country. Relations between Thailand and Saudi Arabia, already strained, have plunged to a new low in 2014 following a Criminal Court decision that acquitted five ex-police officers in relation to the murder of a Saudi businessman in 1990. Since 1 May 2016 The government of Thailand and Saudi Arabia have been working on strengthening their relations.
For Saudi Arabia, Yemen – like Bahrain – is more an issue of national security than of foreign policy. The Saudis have many access points into Yemen with both formal diplomacy and informal networks at play. Then Crown Prince Sultan managed the tribal networks for decades but the tribal system is changing and diminishing and the Saudi tribal connections are weakening as a result. The country has appeared indecisive about Yemen; in January the government was openly frustrated with President Ali Abdullah Saleh but there was a marked change in its approach in April to one of detailed analysis of the situation and private discussions over whom it should publicly support. The ministry of interior is taking a leading role in dealing with the unrest in Yemen, but other ministries are also making decisions and it is unclear whether there is cooperation between all the ministries involved. Overall, the structure of the Saudi state, and the current preoccupation with issues of succession, suggest that, even if it wanted to do so, Saudi Arabia is unlikely to have the capacity to act as a pan-regional counter revolutionary force.
It is also worth mentioning that Saudi Arabia considers the Houthis a terrorist group, and has reacted militarily against their acquisition of power.

Europe

Oceania

Public relations and propaganda

The reputation of Saudi Arabia in the West has always been controversial due to its record of human rights abuses and the Saudi involvement in the Yemen civil war.
The United Kingdom and United States have become a major centre for public relations supporting the Saudi regime. Lina Khatib, head of the Middle East and north Africa programme at Chatham House said that Saudi Arabia had embarked upon a "wide-ranging PR campaign focused on the UK and the US" since 2016, which involved English-language content targeting a British audience. This PR, linked with the support of Theresa May in arms sales during the war in Yemen. In the UK, media PR depicted Mohammed bin Salman as a reforming prince, and major newspapers ran adverts promoting Bin Salman's 'reform agenda'.
This image has been undermined by disappearance and apparent Saudi state-sanctioned murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Following these allegations, US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo said, "We call on the government of Saudi Arabia to support a thorough investigation of Mr Khashoggi's disappearance and to be transparent about the results of that investigation" and a UK Foreign Office spokesman said, "These are extremely serious allegations. We are aware of the latest reports and are working urgently to establish the facts, including with the government of Saudi Arabia." France also sought an explanation as to how an "accomplished and esteemed" journalist such as Khashoggi vanished.
Following the murder of Khashoggi, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel halted the sale of weapons to Saudi. A non-binding resolution was also voted in the European Parliament to “impose an EU-wide arms embargo on Saudi Arabia”. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau threatened to cancel a multimillion-dollar defence contract amidst the Khashoggi controversy.
Consulum, a London-based PR firm primarily staffed by former Bell Pottinger employees, has worked on communications programmes with the Saudi Arabian government and PR firm Freud Communications, which has worked with the kingdom in propagating the Saudi Vision 2030 relaunch under Bin Salman, distanced itself from the regime following the disappearance of Khashoggi. Pagefield Global Counsel and Kekst CNC have said that they previously worked with the regime but no longer work in Saudi Arabia.
A number of media companies have worked with the Saudi state to promote its overseas image. Bin Salman met Vice Media founder Shane Smith in early 2018 on his tour of the US, and Vice has had a team promoting the country with the Saudi Research and Marketing Group, a Saudi regime-affiliated publishing group and 'organ of soft power'. SMRG has signed a deal with The Independent to launch foreign-language websites across the Middle East, which has led to concern over potential editorial influence by the Saudi publisher. SMRG also donates to the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change to facilitate Tony Blair's work on the Saudi modernisation programme.

International organization participation

Saudi Arabia is member of the ABEDA, AfDB, AFESD, AL, AMF, BIS, ESCWA, FAO, G-20, G-77, GCC, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, International Maritime Organization, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, ISO, ITU, NAM, OAPEC, OAS, OIC, OPCW, OPEC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO