Realpolitik in the Middle East and Asia

Steven Mosher is shocked to the roots of his marrow. Apparently, he has discovered that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia practices Realpolitik.

That is, when the president of China visited Saudi Arabia-- in search of a new trade agreement-- the Crown Prince said nothing about the Uyghurs.

Mosher explains his thinking in a stinging indictment of Chinese persecution:

The Saudi royal house prides itself as the guardian of the Muslim faith, and seeks to ensure that daily life on the Arabian Peninsula is dominated by Islamic practices. The two holiest sites of Islam — Mecca and Medina — are under its care, and it welcomes, in non-COVID times, millions of Hajis — Muslim pilgrims from all over the world — to these cities each year.   

In other words, the keepers of the keys to the Kaaba — Islam’s most sacred shrine — aspire to play the same role in the Islamic faith as the Vatican does in the Catholic one.

One would think that the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Riyadh, which took place in December, would have provided an opportunity for the Saudis to bring up China’s brutal mistreatment of its Muslim minorities. But, despite signing cooperation agreements with China on almost everything imaginable, the Uyghurs apparently went unmentioned.

So, Realpolitik in action. We recall, for those who have a longer memory, that Richard Nixon went to Beijing to meet with Chairman Mao, and Mao was arguably the worst offender against human life in human history.

But, of course,, we have higher principles. We dance to a different drum. We are idealists and we prefer empty statements about our ideals to the task of getting things done.

The question is: how far are we willing to go to defend the Uyghurs? What are we willing to give up to maintain our self-righteous defense of our ideals?

It is not an empty speculation.

Consider this hypothetical. 

Imagine that you want to shut down the Fentanyl market. Let’s say that you put in a call to the President of China and ask him to shut down the factories that are producing Fentanyl chemicals.

What is he going to say? Or better, what is he going to think?

If I may, he is going to think that we have slapped sanctions and tariffs on his businesses. He is going to think that we constantly defame him and his country by accusing them of genocide. He is going to think that we consider him to be our enemy; and that we are preparing for war with him.

Do you honestly believe that this gives President Xi any incentive to shut down the Fentanyl factories? If not, how much are you willing to sacrifice to make a point?