UAE: China’s gateway to the Middle East

The United Arab Emirates is positioning itself as China’s gateway to the Middle East and Africa (MEA). The action is focused on Dubai, where there are an estimated 200,000 Chinese residents.  The Dubai International Finance Center (DIFC) has been trying to market itself as a hub for Chinese corporations — public and private alike — to base their MEA headquarters in the emirate, and it has had moderate success. “Dubai is two-thirds of the way to Africa from China, so given Dubai’s stability and that many Chinese firms’ international expansion is in its early days, it makes sense for most Chinese banks to bank for Africa out of Dubai,” said Ben Simpfendorfer, managing director of Hong Kong-based consultancy firm Silk Road Associates. The DIFC has attracted a handful of financial institutions — ICBC, Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China and the China Construction Bank — that essentially operate as