Jan, 2021
The G20 Summit was hosted by King Salman, and
the OPEC+ Ministerial Meeting （ONOMM）was co-chaired by Saudi Petroleum Minister
Abdulaziz bin Salman with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak ( now promoted
to Deputy Prime Minister). Saudi Petroleum Minister is the son of King Salman.
In addition to the King and the Oil Minister, Saudi Arabia has one more
important figure; Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman. Muhammad is also the king’s
son. He is the younger half-brother of the oil minister. He is abbreviated as
MbS.
MbS was the most favorite son of the King
Salman. He became the crown prince in 2017 overtaking other brothers and
grabbed huge power. He is regarded as the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia. He
was expected to play an important role behind the scenes at both the G20 and
OPEC+ conferences. Someone supposed that he would take the leadership on the
front stage in place of sickly father or indecisive half-brother.
But media reported very little about MbS. His
figure was obscure at both conferences. And the presence of Saudi Arabia itself
was proved to be extremely weak through both conferences.
1. G20: No one expected Saudi
Arabian leadership
When MbS attended the Osaka Summit in 2019, he
took over the host of G20 from then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. MbS met with newly
enthroned Emperor of Japan in Tokyo[2]
and returned home in triumph. Until the end of 2019, preparatory works were
taken place smoothly. But the circumstance was suddenly changed at the
beginning of 2020 due to COVID-19. It has been decided in March that the G20 summit
in November would be held by video conference[3].
Video conference system has both advantages and
disadvantages. It is easy to adjust the schedule of world leaders and to
prevent coronavirus infection. On the other hand, video conference has several problems.
When the leaders of each country line up on the TV screen, they obliged to make
their speech one by one according to the instructions of the chairman, King
Salman. They cannot break into a speaker. In other words, it is impossible to
have a free and open discussion like a round table meeting. Video conference
requires sophisticated ability of the chairman. And in video conference,
bilateral talks outside the conference cannot be hold though bilateral talks are
inevitable to conclude the final communiqué.
At the Riyadh Summit, the leaders of each
country only appealed the common measures against corona virus and/or their own
diplomatic and economic opinions. There was no turn for MbS who had an ambition
to act as a fixer for compiling the communiqué. After all, the G20 closed without
communiqué[4].
It was unfortunate for Saudi Arabia that the
video conferencing system was adopted due to an unexpected COVID-19. However, even
under such circumstances, it seemed possible to call for international
cooperation and joint action against COVID-19, and to extend the assistance to
poor countries suffering from debt[5].
It was clear that King Salman was lack of leadership. In addition, Crown Prince
(MbS) had no chance to show his ability as a fixer. Since the murder of media
reporter, Mr. Khashoggi, MbS is extremely being kept out from Western countries.
It was out of the question that MbS played on the stage of international arena.
Nowadays, no one expected diplomatic leadership
of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia missed the golden opportunity to show the bright
image of King Salman and MbS.
(Cont’d)
By Areha Kazuya
E-mail: Arehakazuya1@gmail.com
[1] Coronavirus
crisis dominates Saudi-hosted G20 summit
2011/11/21
Kuwait Times
https://news.kuwaittimes.net/website/coronavirus-crisis-dominates-saudi-hosted-g20-summit/
[2] Saudi
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman meets with Japanese emperor in Tokyo
2019/7/2
Arab News
[3] Saudi
Arabia to convene virtual G20 summit on coronavirus
2020/3/18
Arab News
[4] Saudi
Arabia hands over G20 presidency to Italy as Riyadh summit concludes
2020/11/22
Arab News
[5] G20
dithers on poor countries debt time-bomb amid crisis warning
2020/11/23
Kuwait Times
No comments:
Post a Comment