Washington believes that many countries in the Middle East in recent years were determined to establish closer relations with Russia and China, but now their position has changed. This version was presented at a special briefing by a high-ranking representative of the US administration, and the transcript of his statement was published on Saturday by the White House press office and quoted in the media, BGNES reported.
“I think if you were in the region, say … 18 months ago, you would have heard a lot about a really significant desire to de-risk and, I would say, in a lot of capitals there was a real movement towards Russia and even China in a lot of ways.” , the U.S. official said. “It’s actually already been stopped and in many cases, very specific cases — I can’t talk about everything — it’s been reversed.”
At the same time, as the administration official stated, Washington is aware that the countries of the Middle East “maintain relations with Russia, with China.” “It’s natural, it’s going to continue,” he admitted. “However, if we talk about…the most preferred partnership, especially in security, trade, investment, technology, then in all the capitals of the region we heard that the US is their top choice and priority,” the official said. “We are fully committed to responding to this and looking for areas where we can collaborate.” US officials did not specify which countries were involved.
The briefing was dedicated to the Middle East tour of US President Joe Biden. Representatives of the administration in Washington during this trip of the American leader repeatedly emphasized that the United States intends to play a key role in the region and not allow a vacuum there that can be filled by Russia and China.
–
