Dubai, a famous landmark in the Middle East.
Despite criticism in the United States and Europe as a potential security threat, Chinese telecoms giant huawei, defying rejection from the United States, Europe and Australia, is enjoying an extended honeymoon period with the oil-rich Gulf state, making a big push into the Middle East market.
DUBAI, Feb. 25 (AFP) – Arab Gulf states, Washington’s strategic partners, are seeking to diversify their economies and are investing heavily in the sector as their appetite for technology grows.
Huawei has struggled in recent years in the face of U.S. sanctions over Washington’s claims that it has close ties to the Communist Party’s military and that Beijing may be using its equipment for spying, although the company denies the allegations.
Britain and Sweden have banned the use of Huawei equipment in their 5G networks, while France has also imposed restrictions.
However, Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have not only chosen Huawei for their 5G rollouts, but are also working with the company to develop “smart cities. These capabilities include enhanced digital services and security surveillance, which is a highly valued Huawei specialty for Gulf countries to monitor their populations.
The Gulf states’ use of population surveillance technology is closer to China’s than the West’s approach,” said Camille Lons of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a think tank. “
She told AFP that concerns about Huawei raised in the United States and Europe were “not convincing” in the Middle East.
Alleviating “political pressure”
While the telecoms giant has had a strong presence in the Gulf since the 1990s, its deals and big announcements there have multiplied in recent years.
In January, Saudi Arabia announced that it would open the largest Huawei store outside of China in Riyadh, and a few months later it reached an agreement with the company to develop artificial intelligence to support growth in the public and private sectors.
Last summer, Saudi investment firm Batic, which is already a key partner in the Yanbu Smart Industrial City project in the Red Sea, cemented an agreement with Huawei to carry out “smart city” projects in the kingdom.
Huawei has also developed applications and digital infrastructure to support Muslim pilgrims visiting two of the holiest sites in Islam: Mecca and Medina.
Charles Yang, Huawei’s head of the Middle East, told AFP at Huawei’s Dubai headquarters, “By gaining the trust of our partners in the Middle East, we have been able to mitigate external political pressures like those pursued by the United States.”
In this high-tech emirate of Dubai, one of seven emirates in the UAE, Huawei has launched projects ranging from data storage to online payment services for public transport networks.
Dubai-based Emirates, the Middle East’s largest airline, chose Huawei last year to set up a center to improve the company’s surveillance and security capabilities. An Emirates spokesman declined to elaborate on the exact nature of the technology, but said “this solution is primarily used globally for public safety and security.
U.S. “risk”
China remains one of the Gulf region’s major trading partners.
In 2019, China’s trade with Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest exporter of Crude Oil, reached about $36.4 billion, while trade with the UAE exceeded $50 billion, according to U.N. data.
Charles Young said, “Digital infrastructure has become a key pillar of the (Gulf countries’) national transformation strategy.”
Huawei said this month it wants to reengage with Washington after former U.S. President Donald Trump cited Huawei as part of an intensifying U.S.-China trade and technology standoff.
But the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Rons warned that Huawei’s apparent honeymoon with the Gulf could create security concerns for the U.S.
She noted that there are U.S. military bases in the region and that Gulf countries are “major buyers of U.S. military equipment. There may be “a risk that sensitive U.S. military information or technology could be monitored and transferred to China.
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