Yemen-China policy during the Saleh administration, 1990-2012: leadership, domestic imperatives, and external factors

This study examines the vital internal and external factors that influenced Yemen's political and economic relations with China during Ali Abdullah Saleh’s administration (1990-2012). Since the middle of the 20th Century, Yemen has had a long diplomatic
relationship and economic partnership with China. But, Yemen has still been unable to capitalize on this opportunity for its development as the periphery of such a developed country like China. China has launched many projects in Yemen, including the oil and gas sector, invested in the infrastructural improvements, involved in various trade activities and offered financial aid to Yemen. Yet, the impacts of these economic activities on Yemen’s internal development has been negligible. The objective of current study is to explain why, how and to what extent these factors influenced the Yemen-China relations, consequently leading to a lack of development in Yemen. This study is grounded in the dependency theory based on the Core-Periphery mechanism. This theory clearly explains how and why Yemen (i.e., a periphery) has been having a long diplomatic relationship with China (i.e., a core). The study uses a qualitative
approach, employing both face-to-face and email interviews as the main sources of data collection. The interviewees comprise ambassadors, academicians, businessmen and government officials of Yemen. Although, secondary data was also collected from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yemen Embassy in China and the Chinese Embassy in Yemen, a major proportion of secondary data came from sources, such as books, theses, journals and published articles as well as online and printed newspaper reports. The findings of the study reveal that Yemen-China relations during the 22 years of the Saleh regime are affected significantly by both external and internal factors, such as the failure to seize historic opportunities, lack of political will, institutional mismanagement, corruption, political instability, international competition, foreign
intervention and terrorism. The study concludes that the Yemenis should realize their national interests and resolve their internal problems, such as restoring political stability and security in Yemen, combating corruption, achieving transparency, having effective
administration and setting up a system of higher national governance capable of managing state institutions economically and politically.