With Gulf Cooperation Council states seeking to diversify their economies, Chinese investments connected with the New Silk Road initiative help towards the implementation of their national reform plans The announcement of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013 signaled a confident and assertive turn in Chinese foreign policy. No longer content to wait in the wings, China would, according to President Xi Jinping, “be proactive in seeking achievements.” Five years into the initiative, we are at a point where we can start to take stock of its impact. In some states and regions, China’s ambitions have bumped up against economic and political challenges. In the Persian Gulf, a particularly volatile regional security complex, the BRI has been largely welcomed. The Gulf monarchies (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates [UAE]) have actively engaged China in BRI projects, drawing Chinese investment into their states as they implement ‘Vision’ development plans to diversify their economies. These deeper relations are not a short-term anomaly; China’s power in the China in the Gulf Jonathan Fulton About Energy | China in the Gulf https://www.aboutenergy.com/en_IT/topics/china-gulf21.shtml 1 of 8 4/11/19, 4:37 PM