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Baghdad [Iraq]Dec 1 (ANI): Iraq has begun rejecting Chinese investment proposals in a bid to wean itself off China.
Iraq has begun efforts to limit China’s growing influence as suspicions grow over Chinese investments in the region and globally, according to Asian Lite International.
Iraq’s oil ministry has blocked three major deals with Chinese companies through May 2022 that would have given them greater control over oil fields
The deals include Russia’s Lukoil, BP and US oil giant ExxonMobil, which want to sell stakes in major oil fields to Chinese state-owned companies. However, the Iraqi oil ministry has intervened to prevent these deals from materializing, Asian Lite International reported.
Oil has always been a key factor in world politics. In the 21st century, energy has become even more important as it becomes an important driver of economic growth.
The Middle East, especially Iraq, is one of the regions with the richest oil reserves. Therefore, Iraq has become an important part of China’s foreign policy. China is said to be Beijing’s third largest oil supplier.
Beijing has been the biggest investor in Baghdad, which has benefited the most from the Belt and Road Initiative, receiving $10.5 billion for infrastructure projects such as power plants and airports, Asian Lite International reported.
However, Baghdad has been skeptical of China’s growing influence in the oil industry, as has Western oil companies, which remain an important market for Iraq’s oil industry, Asian Lite International reported.
Iraqi government officials have been expressing serious concerns about the speed at which Beijing is trying to take over Iraq in the oil sector.
Recent protests in Iraq’s southeastern Missan province have hinted at growing unrest in the country due to China’s expansion ambitions for Iraq’s oil industry, which is home to the Chinese oil company Sinopec Engineering, according to reports. Asia Lite International.
According to analysts, China is taking advantage of the security vacuum created by the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq in 2011. Beijing has benefited from the oil industry by aligning its state-owned enterprises with militia groups.
For Beijing, Baghdad is the Middle East’s preferred trading partner and its biggest oil supplier after Riyadh and Moscow. Aside from energy reserves, one of the key aspects Beijing hopes to benefit from is Iraq’s strategic location close to the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz — two locations that are crucial to the Belt and Road Initiative, Asian Lite International reported.
Now that the United States has withdrawn from the region, Beijing has the opportunity it has long craved. It played an active role in Iraq’s years of war and post-conflict reconstruction, giving it influence in the country.
China has already begun to reap the fruits of the opportunities that have emerged in the wake of the Iraq conflict, and has yet to intervene in military operations.
Iraqi citizens are seeing China’s growing power in their country along the lines of colonialism. As a result, protests outside Chinese institutions have occurred many times.
As one Iraqi official put it, “We don’t want the Iraqi energy sector to be labeled as a Chinese-dominated energy sector, and this attitude is shared by the government and the Ministry of Oil.” (Ani)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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