The UAE shows its duplicity with China kowtowing and COP28 o The United Arab Emirates is facing criticism after leaked documents show it planned to use the COP28 climate summit, which began in Dubai on Thursday, to seek oil and gas deals with 15 nations.
The negotiations were set to be led by summit host Sultan Ahmed al Jaber, the UAE's industry minister and head of its national oil company. Asked whether the hosting of an anti-carbon emissions summit was compatible with using said summit secretly to negotiate energy deals, the UAE first responded that "private meetings are private." Jaber then claimed, "These allegations are false, not true, incorrect, and not accurate." The documents speak for themselves, however.
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This is only the latest incident of growing duplicity in the UAE's foreign policy. Although the collection of Sunni Arab kingdoms is supposedly a very close U.S. ally, it has fostered deep cooperation with China and Russia. The UAE has openly undermined international efforts to constrain Russian President Vladimir Putin's war economy and the destabilization of Europe. Then, there's the UAE's very close relationship with communist China . Jaber's COP28 deals were set to include Beijing. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. The UAE also hosts Chinese military bases and shares highly advanced technology with China.
As the New York Times reported this week, the UAE has ignored repeatedly stated U.S. concerns over its national security adviser's engagement with China in the operation of his artificial intelligence company. Via its CEO, that company, G42, is linked to Beijing's security apparatus. This cooperation is of great value to China in the sense that AI will allow China's Ministry of State Security to boost its intelligence collection efforts dramatically and the People's Liberation Army similarly to strengthen its sensor and targeting capabilities. To be clear, what the UAE is doing with G42 will likely lead to American deaths in any future war with China (Israel shows similarly concerning cooperation with China in this regard). The UAE's interest in boosting China is stark. The Muslim nation even provides diplomatic cover for Beijing's genocide against its Uyghur Muslim population, for example.
The UAE has the right to pursue whatever foreign policy it sees fit. But its current trajectory is not compatible with keystone U.S. national security interests. The U.S. should respond in recognition of that basic fact.