Moving towards a nuclear Middle East

After the visit of the Chinese President Xi Jinping to Saudi Arabia at the end of the last year, a new high-level meeting in January 2023 confirmed the noticeable tilt towards east of many Gulf countries, a trend that has important implications both in terms of hard security and energy transition. The visit of the President of South Korea Yoon Suk-Yeol to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the head of an important business delegation that included chaebol tycoons (big industrial conglomerates, from Hyundai, Samsung and SK Group, among others) confirmed the excellent bilateral relation between Abu Dhabi and Seoul, eager to reinforce their partnership well beyond trade volumes and investment deals…

Umberto Profazio (Project Fellow, NATO & its Adversaries) for the NATO Defense College Foundation.