ISLAMABAD, Feb 17, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Saudi Arabia’s powerful crown prince
arrives in Pakistan on Sunday, the start of an Asian tour during which he
will seek lucrative contracts and demonstrate he still has allies five months
after the Khashoggi affair.
Mohammed bin Salman, widely known as “MBS”, is expected to land in the
capital Islamabad and stay in Pakistan until Monday.
His trip comes amid high tensions in the region: India and Saudi Arabia’s
arch-rival Iran — both bordering Pakistan — have accused Islamabad of
backing militant groups which have carried out bloody suicide attacks on
their soil in recent days.
After Pakistan, MBS will travel to India, where he will meet Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
He is expected to finish the trip with a visit to China on Thursday and
Friday.
Two short stops initially scheduled for Sunday and Monday in Indonesia and
Malaysia were postponed on Saturday without explanation.
The Asia trip comes five months after the murder of journalist Jamal
Khashoggi, a fierce critic of MBS, at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul ignited
a diplomatic crisis.
Riyadh initially denied the murder, then gave several conflicting accounts
of Khashoggi’s death, and now claims he was killed in an unauthorised
operation.
Turkey said Friday it has not yet revealed all the information it has
uncovered in the extraordinary case, which launched a global wave of
revulsion and has profoundly tarnished the image of the kingdom, especially
that of the crown prince.
But for analysts, the Asia tour — the largest outing on the international
scene for the crown prince since his participation in the G20 summit in
Argentina last December — is a timely demonstration to the West that he
still has friends in rising Asia.
– ‘Not a pariah’ –
He “wants to demonstrate that he is not an international pariah”, said
James M. Dorsey, a researcher at the S. Rajaratnam School of International
Studies in Singapore.
It is a matter of proving that he still has “international access and he
can function… as the most senior representative of Saudi Arabia beyond the
king”.
Li Guofu, director of Middle East studies at the China Institute of
International Studies, a government-affiliated think tank, noted that the
Khashoggi case continues to cause indignation in Western countries, so
visiting them would have been “inconvenient”.
“Not travelling to the West does not mean that he cannot come to the East.
Saudi Arabia is also making strategic adjustments, and Asia is the new main
direction of Saudi diplomacy,” he said.
Asian countries, he added, “have an important special characteristic —
that is, we don’t interfere in the internal affairs of other countries”.
The prince’s trip also includes an important economic component.
“China is the largest buyer of Saudi crude, and Saudi Arabia’s other
largest clients are all Asian: India, Japan, South Korea,” said Dorsey.
“Asia is a source of inward investment into Gulf energy and infrastructure
investment; and the future growth of the global economy will be in Asia,”
said Karen Young, an analyst with the American Enterprise Institute.
Saudi Arabia is not the only Gulf state to pivot east, she added — for all
of them, it is a “logical shift”.
– Taliban ‘in Islamabad’ –
As for Pakistan, where MBS will begin his tour and which is facing a
serious balance of payments crisis, it hopes its old ally will throw the
struggling economy a lifeline, specifically in the form of a $10-billion
investment in a refinery and oil complex in the southwest of the county.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has already visited Saudi Arabia twice since
coming to power last summer.
The crown prince’s visit to Islamabad will also apparently coincide with
possible new talks between the Taliban and the United States on Afghanistan.
The militants announced the discussions would be held in the Pakistani
capital on Monday, adding they would also meet Khan. But the US said it has
not been invited and Pakistan has not confirmed talks are being held that
day.
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are both involved in a months-long push led by
Washington aimed at ending the conflict in Afghanistan.
It was not immediately clear if MBS would participate in any further
discussions on the topic Monday.