The United States, Saudi Arabia and India would have discussed on Sunday a project to connect the Gulf and the Arab countries with a network of railways, which in turn was connected to India by a new series of sea lines. The US newspaper reports it Axios, anticipating the face-to-face to be held on May 7 in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) between US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and his Saudi and Indian counterparts. Again according to the reconstruction of Axiosthe design would aim to counter the rise of Chinese influence in the Middle East, starting with the maxi infrastructure network of the Belt and Road Initiative: the so-called Chinese Silk Road.
Behind the scenes: a forum for infrastructure and the challenge to Beijing
Axios reports that the idea of the US infrastructure “counter-offensive” would have arisen in discussions held over the past 18 months in a forum called I2U2, an initiative that includes the United States, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and India. The discussions concerned precisely the “strategic” infrastructures in the Middle East region, with the aim of capitalizing on Indian expertise in the sector. At a later stage, the US administration wanted to include Riyadh as well. Sullivan himself had leaked the initiative in a speech at theInstitute for Near East Policy of Washington, emphasizing how greater integration between Asia, the Middle East and the USA would serve to strengthen “economic technology and diplomacy”. Between the lines, the entire operation should also counter Beijing’s economic and political expansion. “No one is saying it openly, but China has been talked about since day one,” said an Israeli official interviewed by Axios.
