Introduction
In this world of emerging economies, which country is the real superpower of the world? A country is supposed to be a superpower when all other nations listen to that country for their problems and solutions. And all the countries listen to that country. In the 21st century, there is only one true superpower in the world that is United States of America (USA). But lately China is in the race for being a real superpower and the notable proof is the coming of alliance of Saudi Arabia and Iran. The two countries have forged friendship after seven years due to China. This event might look insignificant, however, it’s of great importance to China.
Saudi & Iran’s relationship
Though Saudi Arabia and Iran are Muslim countries, they are poles apart. Why? The majorly Muslim in Iran are Shia and in Saudi Arabia are Sunnis. Both these groups are fighting each other since centuries. In 1960s, the Middle-East was adopting modern values. But, how some countries turned conservative.
This dates back to the year 1979. Some rebels attacked the holy Mecca in Saudi Arabia. These rebels were of the view that the Saudi royals are moving away from the conservative Islamic law. The Saudi Army firmly crushed the rebels with the help of France. But this incident left a deep scar on the mindset of the Saudi royals. The Saudi royals were now convinced that the Saudi is not ready for modernization. The thought that such rebel attacks would continue to take place if such modernization process is not halted. Henceforth, the Saudi royals took some drastic conservative measures and traditional Islamic laws.
In Iran, monarchy was firmly established with the support of USA. The Shah of Iran was supported by USA and western nations. However, in the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the Shah of Iran was overthrown and Ayatollah Khomeinei hemmed the state of affairs in Iran. He made the secular republic into Islamic republic. After this incident, both the countries tried to spread their conservatives ideas on to other Muslim countries. However, their relations got strained due to the issue of production of the oil.
The maximum oil producing areas in Saudi Arabia was Shia dominated areas whereas in Iran the maximum oil producing areas was in Sunni dominated areas. As such, both the countries started persecuting their minorities and tried to control them. After these events, the relations between both the countries started souring. Whatever, conflicts occurred in the Arab world, both the countries supported the opposite sides. For ex-In Lebanon, Saudi supports the government while Iran supports the Hezbollah rebels. In Syria, Saudi supported the Hezbollah rebels whereas Iran supported Al-Asad led government. In Yemen also Saudi supports the government whereas Iran supports the Houthi rebels.
As such the distance between these two rebel countries continued to grow until China entered the scene. China managed to forge friendship between Saudi Arabia and Iran. China called the leaders of both the countries for a six day conference and convinced them that they would not affect each other’s interests and continue to maintain peace in the Middle-East region.
Loss for America
Earlier such types of negotiations were done by the USA, however, it has failed to prosper peace and stability in the Middle-East region. In fact, USA has been responsible for increasing the conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq. The US government was never interested to broker peace as US arms lobby continued to make profits from these wars and conflicts.
In China, Xi Jinping was elected for a 3rd term. China believes in the theory of hammer and nails. Hammer represents those nations who want to dominate and nails for those who are subdued. China wants to increase its dominance economically, militarily and diplomatically. China’s psychology is to win a war without arms and bloodshed. The whole world is of the opinion that the COVID-19 pandemic emanated from China, however, superpower USA and powerful global organisations like WHO could not do anything significantly. If YouTube videos are made against the Chinese regime, they are immediately demonetized and taken down. Even country like Turkey is unable to raise its voice against the issue of discrimination of Uighur Muslims against China.
A sort of economic war has already started between USA and China. For ex-semiconductor war. The chips which powers our mobiles, cars, machines are mostly made in China and Taiwan. The nation which controls this segment would control the whole world and become a real superpower.
Today, China has reached in such a position that it can give veiled threats to even European nations. China has understood that the dominance of the West is on wane. China wants to throw out the hegemony of USA from Asia and Africa. The countries which were experiments of war by the USA are being won by the China diplomatically. China’s focus is on Africa, Latin America, Pacific Islands and Middle-East regions. China wants to exploit those areas of the world which has been ignored by the USA and western nations.
Impact on India
China considers India as a serious competitor. Though India has been lagging behind China in terms of economy, for ex-China’s GDP is six times that of India, India would take considerable time to reach at par the level of China in terms of economic strength. Today China considers India as a threat to it. In the near future, except India there is no other nations which could pose a serious challenge to China. That’s why China continues to inconvenience India like border conflicts in J & K and North-East.
Conclusion
China is powerful, but not a superpower yet. India has already realized that the near future would entail economic and diplomatic challenges. India should and has already started thinking of long term goals to counter China in terms of manufacturing, defense, technology, culture. This would boost India to be a serious contender for being considered as a front-runner for being a real superpower but at the same time also meaningfully carrying the world in its stride for development and peace.