Coronavirus could cause US to lose Iraqi Kurdish region to China

Aljazeera



Since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, China has been working to
expand its influence over the KRG through medical aid.

By Yerevan Saeed
16 Jul 2020

The coronavirus pandemic created an opportunity for China to
strengthen its burgeoning relations with Iraq's semi-autonomous oil
and gas-rich Kurdish region of northern Iraq (KRI) through medical
aid.

On March 8, the Chinese government sent 200,000 face masks to KRI to
help the Kurdish Regional Government's (KRG) efforts to stem the
spread of the virus in the region.

In the following weeks, Beijing delivered several other large batches
of medical aid containing different types of personal protective
equipment (PPE), medical devices and COVID-19 testing kits to the KRI.

The aid shipments were highly publicised and widely celebrated in the
KRI. On April 20, for example, China's Consul General to Erbil Ni
Ruchi and KRG Health Minister Saman Barzinji held an hourlong news
conference to announce the arrival of a new shipment of aid.

Speaking in front of Chinese cargo planes at the Erbil International
Airport, Ruchi said China was going to be "a friend of the people of
the Kurdistan region during hard times". At the height of the crisis,
the Chinese Consul General also appeared on local TV channels in KRI,
offering advice to the Kurdish people on how to take the necessary
measures to contain the virus.

China also sent a medical team to the Kurdish region to help the KRG.
During their four-day visit, Chinese doctors visited local hospitals
and held panels to share their experience in treating coronavirus
infections with their Kurdish counterparts.

Chinese companies also chipped in to help the Kurdish region during
the COVID-19 crisis. On April 1, China Oil HBP group, a Beijing-based
oil and gas resource development company, donated 30,000 masks and
5,400 COVID-19 testing kits to the KRG.

Sino-Kurdish relations are relatively new despite the overwhelming
influence communist China's founding father Mao Zedong's political
thoughts had on the Kurdish freedom movement.

China only started to become a real diplomatic and trade partner to
Iraqi Kurds after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's government in
2003.

Jalal al-Talabani, then leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
(PUK) who would later become president of Iraq, paid an informal visit
to China in early August 2003. Subsequently, delegations from the PUK
and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) visited China. These visits
were promptly reciprocated by senior Chinese officials.

In December 2014, when the ISIL (ISIS) group was at the peak of its
strength in Iraq, China showed its support for the Kurdish people and
the regional government by opening a consulate general in Erbil. China
chose to send delegates to the region at such a dangerous time because
it believed the economic gains it would make as a result of the move
outweighed the risks. At the time, the KRG had already taken control
of the oil-rich province of Kirkuk and built a link to connect the
oilfields there to its newly built pipeline to Turkey, raising its oil
production to 400,000 barrels per day.

Last year, China visibly increased its efforts to strengthen ties with
the region.

In April 2019, Li Jun from Communist Party of China's (CPC) Central
Committee paid a visit to Erbil and officially invited KRI President
Nechirvan Barzani to Beijing. Li told Barzani that China's President
Xi Jinping "recognises the vital role the Kurdistan Region played in
combating terrorism and defeating the so-called Islamic State".

A few months later, in August, the Chinese Consul to Erbil, Ruchi,
launched the official Facebook page of the consulate with a video
message. In the Kurdish language message, Ruchi said the Chinese
government is eager to develop its relations with the KRG,
highlighting the two peoples' historic "friendship" that dates back to
the ancient Silk Road.

In October 2019, a delegation from the Chawy Kurd Center for Political
Development, a Kurdish political education NGO, visited China on the
invitation of the Chinese government to promote Sino-Kurdish ties. The
same month, the centre published  "China's Governance", a two-volume
book authored by President Xi in which he highlights his thoughts on
governance, economic development, and leadership.

Also in October, the KRC's first Chinese language department was
opened at Erbil's Salahadin University. Subsequently, in November
2019, a Chinese cultural and commercial centre was established in the
region for the first time.

Despite these efforts, China's relationship with the KRG remained
limited and superficial until recently. The COVID-19 crisis, however,
finally provided China with the opportunity to deepen and expand its
relationship with the region and emerge as a strong strategic partner
that could offer crucial help in times of need.

Indeed, during the coronavirus crisis, Beijing's image and prominence
in the Kurdish region have improved significantly. Common Kurds who
previously viewed China solely as an exporter of cheap but poor
quality goods and products started to perceive Beijing as a global
power that could provide the region with much needed economic and
structural support. Moreover, more and more Kurds started to
acknowledge China as an effective and powerful actor in the Middle
Eastern political arena that could influence the KRG's future
international prospects.

China has a lot to gain from strengthening its ties with Erbil. If
Beijing succeeds in becoming a prominent player in the KRG, it can not
only make significant trade gains, but also use it as leverage against
Turkey.

In recent years, Turkey has become a sanctuary for political
organisations and NGOs that are working to end the persecution of the
Turkic Uighur minority in China. The Turkish government has also been
vocal on the issue, calling on international organisations and other
states to sanction China for its human rights abuses against Uighurs
and other minorities.

China can try to use its growing influence over the Iraqi Kurdish
region to silence Turkey through engagement with Kurdish organisations
and groups defending Kurdish rights in Turkey. Although there is no
indication of such cooperation yet, Beijing's investment in
cultivating stronger political, economic, and cultural ties with the
Kurds could pay off in the long run.

China's rapid move into Iraqi Kurdish region could well be an
opportunity for the KRG, but it presents a problem for Washington.

The United States has been the primary provider of financial,
security, military and political support to Kurds in Iraq since 1991.
However, recent events significantly damaged the relationship between
Erbil and Washington.

In 2017, after Iraqi Kurds overwhelmingly voted for independence in a
referendum rejected by the central Iraqi government as
"unconstitutional", US President Donald Trump failed to support the
Iraqi Kurds. Consequently, Iraqi forces and Shia armed groups known as
Popular Mobilization Forces drove Kurds out of Kirkuk. And some two
years later, the Trump administration disappointed Kurds in Iraq once
again by abandoning their brethren as they were facing an existential
threat in Syria. All this led to Kurds viewing the US as an
increasingly untrustworthy ally, and starting to look for other
supporters.

Today, China appears to be capitalising on Washington's fading
popularity in the Iraqi Kurdish region. Eventually, Beijing's
multipronged outreach strategy that is clearly already increasing
economic, cultural and political ties between KRI and China, could
allow it to claim the role of primary global power in the region.

The Iraqi Kurdish region is one of the US's most successful
state-building projects to date, despite its failures and shortcomings
in the rest of Iraq. Moreover, the KRI, with its vast natural and
human resources, has immense geopolitical importance for the US and
its allies. Washington, which is already at loggerheads with China on
many issues, cannot afford to lose the KRG to Beijing.

But the coronavirus crisis that allowed China to make significant
inroads into the KRG also offers the same opportunity to the US.

Erbil still needs significant financial and medical assistance to
manage the ongoing public health emergency. The Kurdish enclave is in
dire straits due to the decline in oil prices and Baghdad's decision
to cut its share of the national budget.

Washington can easily improve its image in the KRG by sending medical
help and helping Erbil and Baghdad reach an acceptable financial
agreement.

Today, Washington may well think Iraqi Kurdish region is not one of
its priorities. But if it does not take swift action to assure Iraqi
Kurds that the US still has their back, China can easily take its
place as the primary benefactor - and decision-maker - in the region.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not
necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.