Standing in-between— Gulf States in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Under New Security Dynamics: The GCC, Saudi Arabia and Qatar
| Published date | 01 March 2025 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/23477970241298755 |
| Author | Maria Papageorgiou,Ahmed Bux Jamali |
| Date | 01 March 2025 |
Research Article
Standing in-between—
Gulf States in the
Shanghai Cooperation
Organisation Under
New Security Dynamics:
The GCC, Saudi Arabia
and Qatar
Maria Papageorgiou1and Ahmed Bux Jamali2
Abstract
The addition of Gulf states to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)
has significantly altered regional dynamics. By examining two Gulf states’ foreign
policy motivations for joining the SCO, through the lens of institutional balancing
and hedging concepts, we argue that they engage in both hedging through multi-
alignment to achieve national objectives and mitigate risks and institutional
balancing in order to constrain China’s and Russia’s geopolitical ambitions within
the organisation, check their regional rivals and at the same time exclude the
United States from an emerging security architecture. Moreover, Gulf states’
priorities focus on strategic autonomy and have avoided taking clear-cut sides
in the US–China competition, while not isolating Russia despite capitalising on
its deteriorating position in the Middle East since the Ukraine war. Finally, the
Gulf Cooperation Council’s reluctant position as a unitary actor in establishing
relations with the SCO indicates its strategic neutrality and a cautious stance
towards the United States as its security guarantor.
Keywords
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Gulf Cooperation Council, Shanghai Cooperation
Organisation, China, USA
Journal of Asian Security
and International Affairs
12(1) 109–133, 2025
© The Author(s) 2024
Article reuse guidelines:
in.sagepub.com/journals-permissions-india
DOI: 10.1177/23477970241298755
journals.sagepub.com/home/aia
1 Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
2 Institute of International and Regional Studies, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, China
Corresponding author:
Maria Papageorgiou, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK.
E-mail: maria_marypapageorgiou@hotmail.com
110Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs 12(1)
Introduction
Although geographically located in Asia, the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
countries have been more closely allied with the United States and the West both
economically and strategically, while the region has been one of the priority areas
in US foreign security policy since Second World War (Khan, 2001). As a result,
the United States has a strong presence in the Arabian Peninsula and has been
viewed as a regional stabiliser and nominal defender of the Gulf states (Wright,
2007). In terms of military cooperation, the United States is the leading exporter
of weapons to these countries, and it has established different security agreements
with each member while also stationing military bases on the territories of all
GCC members, which evolved functionally since the Gulf War in 1991 and after
9/11 (Papageorgiou, 2023; Sun, 2010).
In the last decade or so, the GCC states have started further cultivating rela-
tionships with various global actors reflecting their increasing political independ-
ence and intention to assert their autonomy and seize opportunities for strategic
expansion in theatres like Central Asia and the broader Eurasian region (Sim &
Fulton, 2021). Accordingly, the Gulf states have sought to diversify their eco-
nomic and security ties beyond traditional allies such as the USA, by engaging
bilaterally with other states involved in the region (Priya, 2024).
China is a country with which several Gulf states have sought to cooperate in
areas such as energy, tourism, infrastructure, petrochemicals, minerals develop-
ment, terrorism and security (Niblock, 2018). China’s economic capabilities and
extended trade penetration in the region, along with Russia’s presence since the
Syrian war, indicate Gulf states’ intentions to forge closer relations with other
actors (Ahmed, 2018; Ulrichsen, 2023). Gulf states also took the opportunity to
participate in regional projects such as Moscow’s Eurasian Economic Union and
Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, where economic incentives also promote coop-
eration under authoritarian rule (Roberts, 2022).
Nevertheless, it was recent issues such as the Israel–Hamas conflict, Iran–
Israel–Hezbollah confrontation, the Syrian war and the assassination of Iranian
General Soleimani—which led to the US–Iran confrontation in 2019 and 2020
and subsequent Houthi attacks on Saudi oil facilities—along with the US chaotic
withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 that have further facilitated a turn in
GCC states’ foreign policy (Janardhan, 2022). This shift has prompted GCC states
to pursue a more autonomous foreign policy (Eslami & Papageorgiou, 2023). An
example of this is the dismissal of US pressure on condemning Russia for the
war in Ukraine, and despite their tempered criticisms of Moscow, Gulf states
refrained from imposing sanctions (Katz, 2023).
Furthermore, growing tensions in China–US relations in economic, military
and technological domains and Russia’s assertiveness have signalled an interna-
tional strategic environment in which states are expected to choose sides. These
new realities and changes in power distribution in the international system have
prompted GCC states to reconsider their economic and security priorities. Under
this context, they have found themselves in a delicate balance in which they
have ‘to balance international relationships in an era of growing great-power
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