Examining the GCC's Economic and Political Ties with China and India

This report analyzes the Gulf Cooperation Council's (GCC) relationships with China and India, focusing on the 'Look East' policy and the growing importance of these emerging economies for the GCC's energy exports and trade. The paper examines the reasons behind the GCC's shift towards Asia, highlighting the increasing trade dependence and strategic importance of China and India. It discusses the trade dynamics, including petroleum imports and exports, and suggests strategies to strengthen the relationships between the GCC and India, while also emphasizing the need for balancing relations between the East and West. The report explores the implications of China's and India's rising economic power on the GCC and provides a comprehensive analysis of the economic and political cooperation between these regions, including the impact of free trade agreements and strategic partnerships, with the aim of providing a comprehensive understanding of the GCC's strategic positioning in a changing global landscape.

Running head: GCC RELATION WITH CHINA AND INDIA
GCC Relation with China and India
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1GCC RELATION WITH CHINA AND INDIA
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The aim of this study is to examine the relation of the Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) with the
China and India. The emerging economies like India and China are essential for the energy
importers of the Gulf countries. On contrary, these countries also dependent on the GCC for their
growing energy requirements. This paper analyses the reason behind the Look East policy of the
GCC. It also examines the role of the rising power India and China on the GCC. This paper
discusses the suggested strategies for strengthening the relationship between the GCC and India.
It also emphasizes on balancing the relation between East and West.

2GCC RELATION WITH CHINA AND INDIA
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Reasons for Look East policy of GCC........................................................................................4
Rising power of India..................................................................................................................5
Rising power of China.................................................................................................................7
Gulf and India relation.................................................................................................................8
Gulf and China relation.............................................................................................................10
Suggested strategy to balance relations between West and East...............................................11
Suggested strategy to enhance relations with India...................................................................12
Analysis.....................................................................................................................................14
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................15
References......................................................................................................................................17

3GCC RELATION WITH CHINA AND INDIA
Introduction
In the Gulf, the name of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States is the Gulf of
Cooperation Council (GCC). It was founded in 1981 by signing a charter by all member
countries. It is a regional intergovernmental economic and political union, which includes all
Arab states of the Persian Gulf and excludes Iraq (Kapiszewski, 2017). These are United Arab
Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain. Headquarter of the GCC in
capital city of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh. In 2011, the organization transformed into a Gulf union
from the GCC, which strengthened the military, political and economic cooperation. The GCC
states are mainly dependent on oil industry. Thus, it took various measures in order to diversify
and reduce the dependency on oil sector. There is a strong relationship between the GCC and
Asian countries China and India. India is a South Asian country. In addition, China is an East
Asian country. This paper analyses the relation of the GCC with China and India. It also aims to
examine the reason behind Look East policy of the GCC (Ozturk & Al-Mulali, 2015).
The objective of this policy is to intensify the association of the GCC with two emerging
countries of the world. Moreover, both of these emerging countries are growing stronger and
establishes itself as rising power. Assessing the rising power of these two economies will help to
understand their contribution in the GCC. The association between these two countries and the
GCC is mainly depends on the trade related to crude oil. Apart from this, many initiatives had
been taken by the GCC, China and India to strengthen the economic and political cooperation.
Therefore, this paper examines the relation of India with the GCC. Moreover, it also includes the
relation of the GCC with the China (Naufal & Genc, 2014). It is important to balance the
relationship between West and East. Hence, this paper suggests some strategies which will create
a balance between West and East. It also emphasizes on the strategies that had implemented.

4GCC RELATION WITH CHINA AND INDIA
Moreover, Close ties with India benefits both the parties such as the GCC and India. Therefore,
this paper suggests strategies to enhance relation between India and the GCC. It is highlights the
existing policies. It also investigates the contribution of the India in the growth of the UAE.
Reasons for Look East policy of GCC
The trade relation between the GCC and Asian countries have grown substantially over
the last few years. Therefore, the Asian countries took the place of Europe and US in terms of
trade dependence. Moreover, 60% of the total international trade of the GCC belongs to Asian
countries (Gcc-sg.org, 2019). Likewise, these Asian countries and the GCC possess an important
place in the world trade. Asian countries and the GCC have recognized for its big exports. The
manufacture of goods and exports has witnessed in the Asian countries. On the other hand, the
GCC is known for its energy exports. Therefore, the trade between these two regions will
enhance the growth for the GCC and Asian countries. The major emerging economies include
India and China. To boost the relation of the GCC with India and China, Look East policy
adopted by the GCC. It will bring more cooperation in the field of economic and political
development (Deepak, 2018)t. Therefore, emergence of these two global powers have significant
implication on the GCC. Even for the oil importers of the Asia, Gulf countries are equally
important. Trade plays a major role for the development of all countries. Thus, the reliable
history of trade between Asian countries and the GCC, initiated the adoption of the Look East
policy.
The GCC countries are known as the leading partners of the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC). Moreover, around 30% of the proven oil reserves of the world are
located in the GCC countries. Therefore, the GCC countries will be able to fulfill the growing
energy demand if the Asian countries. In addition, for the development of the emerging

5GCC RELATION WITH CHINA AND INDIA
economies of the Asia, enormous energy is required. Hence, the Look East policy acted as a
trade booster. It also ensured the energy security for these emerging countries. On the other hand,
GCC also considers Asian countries as the most vital strategic market for its energy exports
(Barston, 2014). As US took policies to establish itself as an energy-sufficient country. The focus
of the GCC countries shifted towards the increasing demand of oil in China and India. On
contrary, the GCC countries were also able import goods from these manufacturing giants. It
helped in the growth and development of the GCC countries.
Rising power of India
The significance of the development countries scaled up in the finance, trade and
production. Many investors from foreign countries wanted to invest in developing countries. It
further boosted the international trade. International trade is considered as the dynamic comment
of the economic growth and development. In recent years, India improved its performance in the
manufacturing sector of the country. Thus, it enabled the country to export goods produced in the
country. In addition, it also required enormous amount of energy in order to meet the rising
energy demand in the country. The country emphasized on the growth of the trade and
investment. It also took many steps in this regard. It initiated various bilateral ties with the
countries around the word (Alam & Ahmed, 2017). Therefore, India can be a most lucrative
export market for the GCC countries. In addition, it opens up the trade relation between two
parties. The relation of the India in terms of trade is gradually strengthening. The exports and
imports between these two parties resulted in economic growth for both participants.

6GCC RELATION WITH CHINA AND INDIA
Figure 1: The trade balance of the India with GCC countries ($US millions)
Source: (Mea.gov.in, 2019)
Figure 1 represents the trade balance of the India with GCC countries from 2006 to 2015.
Graphically, imports was higher than the exports between two participants in trade. Initially,
imports and exports both increased drastically. However, later it took a slight downward trend
(Aslan, Kutuk & Oduncu, 2015).
Figure 2: Petroleum import of the India from the GCC countries ($US dollars)
Source: (Mea.gov.in, 2019)

7GCC RELATION WITH CHINA AND INDIA
Figure 2 illustrates the petroleum imports of the India from the GCC countries from 2006
to 2015. Graphically, it shows imports of the petroleum and non-petroleum from the Gulf
countries (India.gov.in, 2019). The trend in both categories improved initially. However, from
the 2014 onwards it took a downward trend. The growing market of the India required huge
petroleum and petroleum products. Therefore, GCC countries supplied the energy to the country.
Hence, it also helped the GCC countries in gaining economic benefits. In addition, both parties
started various projects in the market of each other, which resulted in positive growth rate. They
also increased the free flow of labor and investment.
Rising power of China
China establishes itself as a leading country of the world. It placed itself as largest
exporter and second largest importer of the world. It is also ranked as largest economy in terms
of purchasing power and second largest country in terms of nominal GDP in the world
(Bbc.com, 2019). The strong growth of the manufacturing and service sector brought significant
economic gain in the country. It emergence of Chain as a global power is inevitable. The
population and sheer size of the economy with its robust economic and political performance
make it one if the leading economies of the world. Other than trade and investment, it also spread
itself in the field of security to dominate the world market. China launched its major diplomatic
project in the GCC region, called One Belt, One Road (OBOR) (Lirong, M, 2015). The trade
flow between the China and the GCC increased sharply. It is predicted that the growth of trade
between the GCC and China would be from 350 billion US dollars to 500 billion US dollars by
2020.
The trade related to energy also spiked dramatically due to rapid industrial development
and burgeoning population. As the GCC has the surpluses of oil. It can easily fulfill the energy

8GCC RELATION WITH CHINA AND INDIA
requirement of the country. Other than crude oil, the GCC also exported energy-intensive goods
such as aluminum and phosphate. As production cost of these goods are cheap in the GCC
countries. On the other hand, GCC able to import cheap labor from the labor-intensive countries.
Therefore, large number of laborers works in the market of the GCC countries. It is assumed that
due to energy-surpluses of the GCC countries and huge requirement of the China, the oil exports
in the country would grow at 3.7% per annum by 2030 (Javid, Sharif & Alkhathlan, 2018). In
addition, the GCC and China also started diversification plan of their bilateral ties beyond
hydrocarbons. In the Jizan Economic city of the Saudi Arabia, Chinese company Aluminium
Corporation of China (Chinalco) planned to set up a primary smelter. The close relation between
the leading member of the GCC and China will laed to higher economic growth for the
economies. The free-trade agreement between the China and GCC will further strengthen the
relationship.
Gulf and India relation
The Gulf countries and India already signed more than ten free trade agreements in order
to deepen the relationship between these two parties. These trade ties boosts the export market of
these two. These various trade talks includes Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership
(RCEP) of 16 nation (Arora & Mohajeri, 2017). In 2018, Prime Minister of India visited the
GCC member country UAE and met the crown prince of the country in order to strengthen the
trade ties between two parties. Moreover, in 2016, two countries had elevated their association
into a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. It aimed to enhance cooperation across varied
sectors such as investment and trade along with agriculture, space, security and defence. There
was a stumbling block in the relationship between the UAE and India. The close relation of the
UAE with the Pakistan scaled down the growth of trade between these two countries. However,

9GCC RELATION WITH CHINA AND INDIA
the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between these two countries assured the progress of the
relationship related to trade (Osman, Gachino & Hoque, 2016). Moreover, other countries of this
council such as Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Oman also participated in trade and
investment with the India. The below tables provide the data related to export and import of the
India with the GCC countries.
Table 3: Imports of the India from all the GCC countries ($US millions)
Source: (India.gov.in, 2019)
Table 3 represents the imports of the India from all the GCC countries from 2000 to
2016. Historically, India imported mostly from the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Other countries of
the region also import partners of the country. The maximum import was in the area of
petroleum and petroleum products.

10GCC RELATION WITH CHINA AND INDIA
Table 4: Exports of the India from all the GCC countries
Source: (India.gov.in, 2019)
Table 4 illustrates the exports of the India from all the GCC counties from 2000 to 2016.
Historically, India mainly exported goods to the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Other countries of the
GCC also exported goods from the India. The imports of the India is less diversified than the
exports of the country. The flow of the petroleum product was not in one direction (Vorisek,
2016). The robust growth in the petrochemical and refining sector resulted in two way flow of
the petroleum products. However, the trade gap between these two regions increased as the
energy requirement in the emerging countries like India was higher.
Gulf and China relation
Trade and investment act as the base for close ties between the China and GCC. Trade
related to energy plays a pivotal role in the growth of the GCC and China (Gov.cn, 2019). In
2016, the relation between six states of the Gulf and China gradually strengthen when president

11GCC RELATION WITH CHINA AND INDIA
of China visited Saudi Arabia. The bilateral talk related to security and economic sector between
two parties opened a new road. The demand for the oil increased significantly in China due to its
One Belt One Road project that includes the GCC countries. Therefore, the GCC will open up
the sea lanes and will supply huge oil for the China’s project. It is projected that the trade
between the China and GCC would reach 350billion US dollars in the next decade. Previously,
US was the main importer of the GCC. Now, China surpassed US to become major export
market for the GCC countries (Sultan, 2016). As the presence of the US declined in the Middle
East, China would also take in the security architecture of the GCC countries. In addition, China
also maintained a balance between the trade relation with GCC and Iran. The total amount of
trade with the GCC was four ties greater than the trade with the Iran as of 2016. Thus, it helped
to protect the diplomatic interest of the China in both regions. To develop security ties with the
GCC, China deployed naval vessels off the Somali coast to the mission of antipiracy. In Yemen,
the forces of the Emirati and Saudi Arabia also used UAVs made by the China. In addition, the
GCC maritime had abutted by the two arteries of One Belt, One Road project of the China.
However, the GCC is not worried about the close relation between the China and Iran, they
embraced the way China balanced the relation between the Iran and GCC (Dalwai, Basiruddin &
Abdul Rasid, 2015). On the other hand, US is worried about the growing ties between the China
and GCC. The increasing role of the China and decreasing role of the US may possesses threats
for the US economy. As it will intensify the dominance of the China in the global market.
Suggested strategy to balance relations between West and East
The Gulf countries visibly surged their military, economic and diplomatic involvement in
the East. It played a pivotal role in the economic transformation of the East. It helped the region
with its largest proven oil reserves in the world. It further boosted economic growth by scaling

12GCC RELATION WITH CHINA AND INDIA
up energy flow, trade flow, labor flow and investment flow in the East (El-Katiri & Husain,
2014). All the countries of this region gained huge revenue from the free flow of trade. However,
the GCC was unable to increase the influence in the region such as the European Union (EU) and
the US. The reasons behind the loss of influence in these advanced economies of the world were
the economic crisis and longstanding Arab allies. Whereas, there exists great potential for
cooperation between the GCC countries and the US-EU. Though, interests of these two parties
overlap in several areas (Ahmad et al., 2014).
The main challenges are need of the West to balance its strategic and economic interests
in the GCC with a greater commitment to push the growth the rule of law, human rights and
democracy. Another factor which upset the relation between the US and GCC was the security
dependence of the GCC on the China. Moreover, the US took various initiatives for the energy
self-sufficiency. Thus, in future it will not be dependent on the GCC for its energy imports
(Djefl, 2015). Therefore, it is important to introduce close ties between the GCC and East in
order to protect the interest of the GCC when US disengage itself from the region. Thus, it would
drive up the close military, economic and political ties between the China and GCC. Though, it
would act as a security for the Gulf countries. It offended the US as it would create Chinese
dominance in the world. However, the GCC took various steps in order to boost the relation
between the GCC and the US-EU. The role of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is
indispensable in this regard. The organization helped in improving relationship between these
two participants. The relationship can be improved with the help of bilateral ties.
Suggested strategy to enhance relations with India
The relation between the GCC and India improved gradually with the intervention of the
government. The GCC countries and India benefitted from the trade, investment and labor

13GCC RELATION WITH CHINA AND INDIA
migration (Khan et al., 2014). The bilateral relationship between two parties strengthen with help
of trade and investment flows. The energy-dependency on the GCC countries boosted export
market of the GCC. The free trade agreement between two parties will help in free flow of
investment and trade. As a result, both of them will be benefitted. The both parties may
undertake some bilateral talk related to cultural differences. It will make way the new business,
labor flow and investment. The GCC member country UAE is the largest source of investment of
the India. It is the eleventh largest foreign investor of the India. It proposed an investment plan of
75 billion US dollars in the infrastructure sector of the country. In addition, the sectors which
receives huge investment from the UAE include computer hardware, computer software,
services, metallurgy, power and construction. There are various Emirati companies, which are
present in the Indian market. Labor flow between these two countries is very high (Dagher,
2014). Both countries also reviewed labor laws in the meeting held in 2018.
They took several measures in order to improve rights of the laborers. Various laborers
also works in other Gulf countries. Even the Gulf countries also hires cheap labor of the India.
Therefore, many initiates have been taken by these two parties in order to improve the condition
of these laborers. In 2016-17 the bilateral trade between the India and UAE was 53 billion US
dollars. It is the 3rd largest trading partner of the India. In addition, it is also the 2nd largest export
destination if the UAE. Therefore, India plays a significant role in the trade and development of
the UAE. Both countries contributed immensely in the economic progress and prosperity
(Mea.gov.in, 2019). Both countries also decided to scale up trade by 60% over the next 5 years
in 2018, when Crown Prince and Prime Minister of UAE and India met. Other than boosting
trade, the presence of the companies in the market of each other brought positive effects. The
operating companies from both countries also gained from this trade promotion efforts.

14GCC RELATION WITH CHINA AND INDIA
Analysis
The GCC countries close relation with two strong emerging economies of the world
benefited all the member countries of the GCC as well as India and China. The major export
market of the GCC was US (Fulton, 2017). As the US stepped out of the export market of the
GCC because energy-sufficiency. Therefore, the energy-surpluses market of the GCC countries
need new and wide market for the expansion of the export business. It will negate the
dependency of the GCC on the US for oil export. On contrary, it will also help to meet the vivid
energy requirement of two largest emerging economies of the world. Hence, there are various
advantages of the trade ties between the Gulf countries and India and China. However, varied
structural barriers such as higher tariffs act as a hinder to growth of export between the GCC
countries and India and China. Therefore, these tariffs hampered the growth of the trade. There
are various roadblocks in the form of cost compliance concerns and intellectual property rights
(IPR) (Pethiyagoda, 2017). Moreover, there exists some formidable hurdles, as many industries
of the India such as plastics and petrochemicals industry demanded for few protective tariffs.
It increased the cheap imports from the growing petrochemicals and refining sectors of
the Gulf and widened the trade gap between two partners. Another roadblock in the trade and
investment sector is import duty of the China and India. To maintain the revenue of the customs,
import duty is imposed. Hence, elimination of the duty would affect the custom revenue of the
India and China (Shabaneh, 2015). As they faced fierce competition from the players of the GCC
countries. However, there also exists some challenges in the way to relation between these two
parties. The dominant role of the China in the global market may create hurdles for the GCC
countries. In addition, the dependence of the Gulf countries related to security may result in
political overpower by the China. Another important aspect, which should be taken into

15GCC RELATION WITH CHINA AND INDIA
consideration is labor rights. It should be upgraded in order to protect the laborers working in the
foreign markets. Therefore, proper policies and implementation is required in this field.
Conclusion
This paper intend to analyse the relation of the GCC with the China and India. As these
countries are one of the largest emerging economies of the world, where demand for the energy
is higher. The GCC adopted Look East policy, which facilitated in strengthening close ties with
these two countries. The main objective behind this policy was to grab the strategic export
markets of the China and India. Rising power of the India in the GCC countries and global
market surged the trade and investment flow between these two parties (Al-Maamary, Kazem &
Chaichan, 2016). In addition effects of the rising power of the China also discussed in the paper
in order to gain insights about their relation. There were several trade ties, which signed between
the Gulf countries and India. Likewise, many others trade ties including free trade agreements
are yet to finalize.
Thus, it will intensify the relation between the India and GCC (Cfr.org, 2019). Therefore,
government should take proper initiates in order to enhance relation between the India and GCC.
The areas which needs to be covered are increase investment, improve labor rights and cultural
diplomacy. Similarly, the betterment of relation between the China and GCC is also needed. The
One Belt, One Road project of the China enhanced military, political and economic cooperation
between these two participants. While, the huge requirement of the energy would be supplied by
the GCC countries (Quilliam & Kamel, 2015). It would drive up the export market of the Gulf
countries. They would earn huge revenues from this new imitative of the China. Likewise, the
demand for the energy in the Chinese market would be fulfilled. In addition, China also planned
to increase cooperation with the country. As a result, it impacted the relationship of the China

16GCC RELATION WITH CHINA AND INDIA
with the US. The security dependence of the GCC countries on the China may hamper the global
dominance of the US in the area of security. Moreover, energy-sufficiency of the US may
disengage the country from the export market of the GCC countries. However, the presence of
the emerging economies such as China and India would secure the export market of the Gulf
countries.

17GCC RELATION WITH CHINA AND INDIA
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