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First announced in 2013, China’s plan to revive the ancient Silk Road and ocean trade routes under the auspices of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been described as the “project of the century.” Due to its geographic position, stable governance, and diplomatic neutrality, Oman has come to play a key role in the BRI. Nevertheless, the Sultanate has often been overlooked by scholarship and has featured somewhat as an afterthought, especially compared to the studies of Chinese relationships with regional heavyweights, such as Iran and Saudi Arabia. In this context, this article explores Oman’s role in the BRI initiative, and critically evaluates the potential impact of Chinese developments on Oman’s national sovereignty and socio-economic development. It argues that Oman stands to gain much from the transforming Sino-Omani friendship and potentially achieve a win-win outcome, largely due to Oman’s unique bargaining position in comparison to other countries involved in the BRI. The article begins by offering an introduction to the BRI and discussing the scope of the project. It then moves on to contextualize Chinese investments in Oman within a longer history of economic relationships between the Sultanate and China. Finally, it examines the pros and cons of Oman’s increasing entanglement with China and asks to what extent the BRI can be strategically leveraged by the Sultanate.
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"This handbook brings together a mix of established and emerging international scholars to provide valuable analytical insights as to how China's growing Middle East presence affects intra-regional development, trade, security, and diplomacy. As the largest extra-regional economic actor in the Middle East, China is the biggest source of foreign direct investment into the region and the largest trading partner for most Middle Eastern states. This portends a larger role in political and security affairs, as the value of Chinese assets combined with a growing expatriate population in the region demand a more proactive role in contributing to regional order. Exploring the effect of these developments, the expert contributors also consider the reverberations in great power politics, as the U.S.A., Russia, India, Japan, and the European Union also have considerable interests in the region. The book is divided into four sections: historical and policy context state and regional case studies trade and development international relations, security and diplomacy"--
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When Oman joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative to pursue economic diversification, the US intervened to stop it. Although the foundation stone for Chinese investment plans was laid in 2017, these projects were put on hold, while the US rushed to bolster its military presence in Oman. The article studies Chinese investment in Oman, accounts for what has developed so far, and highlights the reasons for which the US acted to stem the potential of non-oil development in Oman. The disruption of the China-Oman diversification project resembles the US’s targeting of China’s policy of expansion by mutual cooperation elsewhere, but with a twist: Oman sits close to two vital chokepoints, the Bab Al-Mandeb and the Hormuz straits. The article argues that such obstruction is central to the US’s mode of accumulation by militarism. Keeping Oman from auto-developing and building its autonomy makes of it a pliable client state ready to serve as an imperialist post to empire.
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