Here’s One Way to Unite the Fractured GCC

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- When the Gulf Cooperation Council’s annual summit begins on Sunday, there’s a good chance the heads of all six member states will be there. It would be an improvement on last year’s gathering.

That meeting, held just six months after the start of the Saudi-led blockade of Qatar, was a disaster: The Saudi, Emirati and Bahraini monarchs stayed away, evidently in disapproval of the participation of Qatar’s emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. The second of two days of meetings had to be abandoned.

Even a full complement of monarchs in Riyadh won’t hide the unresolved hostilities in the group, which have only deepened this week with Qatar’s surprise decision to quit OPEC. Three of its six members are blockading a fourth. Qatar and Oman have good relations with Iran, while the other GCC members are hostile. These divisions have helped to undermine the group’s stated goals such as the creation of a common market and defense force.

If it is to survive, the council needs a unifying cause. Since it can’t find one from within its own region, here’s one that the gathered heads of state could discuss without rancor: the plight of Muslims in China.

In recent months, the United Nations and human-rights groups have drawn attention to China’s treatment of Uighurs, a 10-million-strong, mostly Muslim minority in the western province of Xinjiang. An estimated one million of them are being held in internment camps, with the government treating the tenets of Islam as an “ideological virus.” Those not being held are subject to surveillance, including forced “cultural exchanges” in which non-Muslim government officials invade their homes. 

The Chinese government’s campaign has drawn condemnation from Western governments; the U.S. Congress has recommended sanctions against some officials for human-rights abuses. From the Muslim countries, there has been nothing.

The GCC members have long regarded it as their business, even their duty, to speak for oppressed Muslims everywhere, from the Palestinians to the Rohingyas in Myanmar. But they, like others, have been silent on their co-religionists in China.

The reticence of countries that depend on Chinese investments or military support isn’t surprising. But the Gulf nations aren’t in that position. Unlike many developed nations, they don’t depend on China’s manufacturing muscle; unlike many developing states, they aren’t beholden to Chinese investment. They aren’t big purchasers of Chinese arms, nor do they rely on the People’s Liberation Army for protection.

On the contrary, the GCC members have significant leverage over China: They are its main source of energy. They have no history of hostility with China, no backlog of ancient resentments that the Chinese authorities can use — as they do with the U.S., Europe, and Japan — to deflect censure for their current behavior.

This means Beijing is much more likely to take seriously any concerted criticism from the GCC. Nor can the Chinese government easily reject requests from the Gulf states — as it has done with calls from Western nations — to allow their officials access to Xinjiang.

If the GCC took the lead, it might encourage other Muslim countries to raise their voices, whether directly or through the Organization of Islamic States, another institution desperately in need of an objective. Their collective weight would also strengthen the UN’s efforts to get to the bottom of what’s going on in Xinjiang.

The plight of Muslims there might even fill the hole in the GCC’s collective conscience left by the group’s pivot away from the Palestinian cause in favor of a tacit anti-Iran alliance with Israel. By rights, the situation in China ought to unite Iran and the Arabs – but that’s a lot to ask. The GCC hasn’t discussed it before, but it would be a good start if the Uighurs gave the council a reason to be.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Edward Evans at eevans3@bloomberg.net

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Bobby Ghosh is a columnist and member of the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board. He writes on foreign affairs, with a special focus on the Middle East and the wider Islamic world.

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