Doha-Beijing rapprochement threatens US-Qatari relations
The Emir of Qatar, Sheik Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, held a formal meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Saturday evening to promote relations of cooperation between the two countries in various fields and push it to higher levels, especially in the field of trade and investment and sports cooperation, especially with Qatar’s preparations to host the FIFA Qatar World Cup 2022.
Qatar is seeking to strengthen cooperation with China in various fields, especially the economy, energy, industry and tourism, in a bid to boost its economy after losses caused by the boycott of the Doha by the Arab Quartet for its support of terrorism.
A few days earlier, US President Joe Biden was officially informed of Qatar’s designation as a major non-NATO ally, following talks with Sheik Tamim at the White House.
What does this mean?
Despite the benefits to Qatar of deciding under NATO the Qatar-US alliance’s decision, especially regarding joint military exercises and US weapons maintenance contracts. If there is a war in Ukraine, even though the supervision of that will be within the American technical cadres, there will be catastrophic damages as the smell of gas will appear to be more influential among the observers, as the goal of the decision to drag Qatar into a war that has no use.
In a recent report released on 18 January 2022, Qatar’s Planning and Statistics Authority reported that Qatar’s natural gas production in 2020 reached 171.3 billion cubic meters (126 million metric tons), which is equivalent to 4.4% of the world’s total natural gas production, making Qatar the fifth largest natural gas producer in the world after the United States, Russia, Iran and China.
Many countries in the world depend on Qatari natural gas, even China, which needs more and imports from Qatar to make up for its shortage. It is clear that Qatar’s surplus natural gas production will not solve Europe’s problem, even if Doha cancels its contracts with importers to provide the required resources. Or Qatar is on the list of enemies! This is very dangerous for Qatar, which is poised for a bright future of development, as Chinese-Qatari contracts are expected to be violated, putting the latter in the barrel of a cannon.
Qatar’s entrenchment alongside America will make Doha a military target for Russian and Chinese rivals on the assumption that the war decision is orchestrated to confuse the U.S., meaning that Qatar Gas’s gas fields and its sea tankers will be included in fixed and mobile targets.
By contrast, if Qatar were to strengthen ties with China and not side with Washington in its war against Moscow and Beijing, its relations with the United States would be strained and what has been built up over the years would be demolished.
Will the US use Qatar as a strategic weapon to drain both Russia and China economically over potential near-confrontation? And the long term in the context of a cold war that has become visible and is awaiting new alignments?
