Report: Chinese hidden agenda behind its pact with Iraq

World

According to sources, China wants to get involved in Middle Eastern politics through its 2019 commercial pact with Iraq, which is funding significant infrastructure projects in Tehran in exchange for oil shipments.

The American invasion of Iraq in 2003, which took place 20 years ago, freed the Iraqi people from Saddam Hussein’s oppressive tyranny. China’s influence in Iraq is increasing right now, and Baghdad is a prime illustration of how Beijing views the country’s security vacuum as an opportunity to rule it. China has made many attempts to challenge Iraq’s hegemony over oil and petroleum resources. Each attempt, though, was thwarted by the Iraqi Oil Ministry.

Exxon Mobil and Lukoil, two big oil companies, planned to sell their holdings in important fields to companies supported by the Chinese government, but Iraq’s Ministry of Oil intervened to stop it.

Recent sources, as stated in Al Arabiya’s post, support certain rumours that the arrangement contains a USD 10 billion credit loan from China, which will be returned by depositing the proceeds from 100,000 barrels of crude oil sent by Iraq to China into a designated account with a Chinese bank.

It should be noted that the agreement between China and Iraq is giving Beijing a significant opportunity to become deeply involved in Iraqi politics. It has been speculated that Beijing may be interested in helping to broker compromises between Iraq and the Arab world as an alternative to the American model, which hasn’t worked out very well.