Go deep into Qatar on a global scale and establish international popularity through the World Cup.

The Global Times comprehensively reported that "the World Cup is undoubtedly the best diplomatic stage." FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 officially kicked off on 20th, 2022. For the host who hosted the "most expensive sports event in history", "football diplomacy" is also the biggest investment it has made to realize "National Vision 2030".

Five years ago, this wealthy small Gulf country had a bad relationship with its only neighboring country, Saudi Arabia, and fell into a "crisis of breaking diplomatic relations" with many countries, which made Qatar well aware of the potential threats it faced. In recent years, Qatar has relied on its own resilience, external assistance and mutual compromise to resolve the crisis, and has also played a unique role in international affairs such as the Afghan issue. As a big exporter of natural gas, Qatar occupies an important position in the world due to the escalation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. People can't help asking: Why did Qatar successfully achieve a "diplomatic turn" before the opening of the World Cup? Why can such a small country with a small population achieve "small country with few people and great ambition"?

FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 officially kicked off on 20th, 2022.

"National Vision 2030" is leading

During the World Cup, fans who come to Qatar can not only enjoy the wonderful events, but also see the scene of oil tankers queuing to load liquefied natural gas at the port not far from the stadium. This wealthy country, located in qatar peninsula, on the southwest coast of the Gulf, is not as big as Tianjin, but slightly smaller than Akita Prefecture, which is about 1/4 of Moscow State. The Russian Business Consulting Daily wrote: Qatar,11square kilometer, is a small Arab country with a population of less than 2.7 million, of which about 15% are Qatari citizens, and the migrants mainly come from India, Pakistan and Southeast Asian countries. Qatar is rich in oil and natural gas resources. The oil and gas industry is not only the economic pillar of the country, but also the dividend it brings to ensure that Qatar's per capita GDP has exceeded 60,000 US dollars for many years.

Spain's "Political Management Science Union" recently published an article saying that Qatar became a British "protected area" in 19 16, and it was not until September 3, 2008 that it officially declared its independence. After Hamad1995 became Amir in June, Qatar experienced an unprecedented modernization process. 20 13 In June, Hamad gave way to Crown Prince Tamim, who was born in June 1980, and wanted to turn Qatar into a modern moderate country that believes in Islam. The article said that Qatar Airways sponsored everywhere is bringing Qatar's new image to all parts of the world. Qatar, with deep pockets, has also launched "football diplomacy" in recent years: acquiring or sponsoring European giants such as Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and Bayern Munich; Attract international football celebrities and stars by creating a card league; Hold a series of international competitions to show their unique role-to become a bridge between the East and the West, without giving up their own particularity.

A columnist on Qatar Al Jazeera website said: "For us, the World Cup is held to show soft power, not to make money, which can make citizens proud of the country and improve its image on the international stage." Card officials believe that hosting the World Cup has improved the national infrastructure construction, will attract more foreign investment and international tourists in the future, and promote the development of the national strategy-"National Vision 2030". The International Monetary Fund predicts that Qatar's economy will achieve a growth rate of 3.4% in 2022 and will maintain its economic vitality in the next few years. By 2030, the card will welcome about 6 million international tourists every year. According to Reuters's article, Qatar, which is rich in energy, tried to emulate the "dramatic" transformation of its Gulf rivals Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Since 20 10 won the right to host the World Cup, the country has invested at least $229 billion in infrastructure construction.

According to an article in National Interest magazine, hosting the World Cup itself is part of Qatar's National Vision 2030. Qatar's goal is to transform the relevant infrastructure into new communities, schools and hospitals after the Olympic Games, and to enhance the country's position in the global tourism map. In addition, Qatar is expected to become a new investment center. It recently ranked 24th in a global confidence index for the first time.

Akenki, an economist at the University of Uluda in Turkey, believes that Qatar not only demonstrated its highly developed economic and technological strength through the World Cup, but also accelerated the transformation of its development model through this international event. Public transport, hotels, museums and other infrastructures built to host the World Cup will continue to play a role after the Games, promoting the rapid development of aviation, cultural tourism and other industries, thus promoting Qatar's transformation from an energy-based country to a service-oriented country.

Pearl of Qatar, the landmark of Qatar

Akenchi also said that by hosting the World Cup, Qatar will also change some negative impressions of the Gulf countries. If female referees are used for the first time in this World Cup, it will effectively change the international community's view on the lower social status of women in Gulf countries. For another example, the Russell Stadium, which was built by China enterprises, won the highest rating in the global sustainable development assessment system, which also changed the old impression of serious energy waste in Gulf countries.

Resolving the "Breaking off Crisis" with Resilience and Compromise

Russia's Kommersant published an article in June last year, saying that "for Qatar, which is eager to actively participate in the political affairs of regional countries, hosting the World Cup is a huge investment in the future". Prior to this, Qatar carried out projects in more than 70 countries and regions such as Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine through domestic charities. Qatar has repeatedly denied accusations of supporting extremist organizations in some countries and regions, stressing that all aid projects are coordinated with the United Nations. According to an article published by Washington post on June 5438+05, the long-term turmoil in the Middle East did not affect Qatar's ascent to the top of the World Cup, but holding this tournament marked "the peak of its efforts to shake off the shadow of its bigger neighbor in the Middle East". The obvious tension in the Middle East has eased, but Qatar will still strive to balance its relations with other countries in order to prevent any dangers facing the country in the future. The article also quoted Gerd Noneman, an international relations scholar at Georgetown University in Qatar, as saying: "Ka knows these potential threats and she is very fragile. As long as an international network can be established, even if members are not all allies, they will work hard. "

2065438+In June 2007, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain announced that they had broken diplomatic relations with Qatar and suspended personnel and transportation with Qatar on the grounds of "supporting terrorism and interfering in internal affairs". 202111October, the summit of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf was held in Euler, Saudi Arabia, and the six GCC countries and Egypt signed the Euler Declaration. Saudi Arabia said that the declaration witnessed the strong political will and sincerity of all countries. The full restoration of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Qatar has opened a "new chapter" in promoting regional security and stability.

Wang Tingyi, a scholar at the Tsinghua University Institute of International and Regional Studies and now a visiting professor at the Gulf Research Center of Qatar University, told the Global Times reporter that it is not easy for Qatar to solve the crisis of breaking diplomatic relations, which includes many factors such as its own resilience, external assistance and compromise. First of all, Qatar withstood great pressure at the beginning of the crisis and showed strong economic and social resilience. Secondly, Iran, Turkey and other countries provided timely and necessary support to Qatar, and the US military base in Qatar also ensured its national security. Finally, Qatar and Saudi Arabia reached a certain compromise with each other. He believes that the successful resolution of the crisis not only laid the foundation for Qatar to expand its diplomatic space, but also stimulated Qatar to further enhance its international influence.

Qatar has not only made a breakthrough in improving relations with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, but also played a special role in Afghanistan. Egypt's "Pyramid" commented that in June 20 13, Qatar allowed the Afghan Taliban to set up a political representative office in its capital Doha, which was equivalent to setting up a "diplomatic window" for the latter. According to Washington post's article, Qatar has been working hard to promote the negotiations between the United States and the Taliban in Afghanistan and to help the United States withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. The escalating conflict between Russia and Ukraine prompted European leaders to visit Doha to get more natural gas. The article also quoted Uhrich Sen, a senior researcher at Rice University in the United States, as saying that "Qatar has once again become the focus of attention and given it a place".

After the escalation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Qatar provided a large amount of liquefied natural gas to Europe. According to the ITAR-TASS news agency, Russian President Vladimir Putin 10 talked with Qatar Emir Tamim on the phone at 1 18 in October. He not only talked about "urgent economic and trade cooperation and the goal of ensuring the necessary balance and stability of the global natural gas market", but also wished FIFA Qatar the 2022 World Cup a complete success and the Qatar national team good results. Tamim thanked Russia for actively sharing its experience in hosting the football World Cup with Qatar. "Russian newspaper" said that some European countries tried to boycott the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, and Russia has rich experience in organizing large-scale international competitions under the condition of "boycott". At present, western countries' criticisms of Qatar's government, the host of the World Cup, are platitudes, which are nothing more than "totalitarian regime", "supporting extremism" and "violating human rights". Qatari government officials responded that Western criticism of Qatar was "arrogant".

Qatar also maintains close ties with regional powers such as Turkey and Iran. Turkish media commented that Turkey's in-depth cooperation in the World Cup highlighted the special relationship of strategic complementarity between the two countries. Turkey not only sent 3,000 security personnel to Qatar to assist in security work, but President Erdogan also proposed to attend the opening ceremony, showing Turkey's full support for Qatar.

How to get along with Qatar is a dilemma for western countries.

Farid, a senior editor of Jordan's Charter newspaper, told the Global Times that Qatar is playing a "football card" while inciting geopolitical relations. He believes that Qatar, which has always attached great importance to "soft power", skillfully and fully demonstrated its image of economic prosperity, political stability and diplomatic balance by hosting the World Cup, which changed people's traditional positioning and understanding of this "small Gulf country" to some extent. Although some people say that Qatar is too "showing off its wealth", on the whole, the World Cup has made it score much higher than losing points. In the eyes of other Arab countries, Qatar is a slightly "different" country, especially after becoming rich, and it wants to play a powerful role in politics, diplomacy and public opinion. Although Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other countries have resumed diplomatic relations with Qatar, the programs of Qatar Al Jazeera labeled as "bold and sharp" are still not available in Egypt, United Arab Emirates and other countries. From this point of view, many Arab countries are still taboo and wary of Qatar.

However, due to the pressure from the west, Qatar has won the "sympathy" of the people in Arab countries to a certain extent. In a recent article in Time magazine, Germany summed up for the first time that Qatar's success benefited from cooperation with European countries. For example, Germany was Qatar's third largest trading partner before the epidemic, and German enterprises also participated in local transportation projects and digital construction. Then, the article also mentioned that although some European countries, including Germany, criticized the human rights situation in Qatar, from a realistic point of view, these voices not only did not affect Qatar's successful hosting of the World Cup, but also did not affect Qatar's relations with western countries. The effect of western countries' "siege" of Qatar is sometimes counterproductive. People in the Middle East believe that this criticism is caused by the idea of "Europe-centered" and lacks respect for the Arab world. As the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is the first World Cup held in the Middle East, many Arab countries also regard it as their own World Cup. Many people on social media said, "I am an Arab and I support Qatar." It can be seen that the criticism of western countries has United Arab countries around Qatar. Before the competition, BeINMediaGroup, a Qatar broadcasting company banned in Saudi Arabia, signed a cooperation agreement with its Saudi counterparts. The Wall Street Journal commented, "This shows that geopolitics in the Middle East has changed before the first World Cup in the region".

It is not difficult to see that how to deal with the relationship between energy suppliers with different values from Qatar is very important, which is putting western countries in a dilemma. Some public opinion analysts believe that western countries should re-examine the risks and challenges of cooperation with Qatar after the World Cup, including discussing what is the "red line" of cooperation with the country and in which areas they can become important partners. Because in addition to energy trade, western countries and Qatar also have room for cooperation in immigration management, green economy, health care and so on. In addition, Qatar is changing, and the two sides should actively carry out bilateral dialogue and exchanges instead of criticizing each other by talking to themselves.

As for why Qatar can strive to realize the great cause of a small country and is concerned by international public opinion, Wang Tingyi believes that it cannot be separated from three factors: Qatar is rich in energy resources and has huge financial support; Political stability; Foreign policy is soft and good at balancing the interests of all parties. In his view, Qatar maintains good relations with the United States and China, which shows its superb diplomatic skills. Qatar has carried out "football diplomacy" and realized "panda diplomacy" between China and Qatar. This flexible diplomacy has fully enhanced Qatar's own reputation and international popularity.

"Qatar is between modernization and tradition." Russia's Kommersant reported on this topic that Qatar became the first Arab country to host the World Cup and a country that believes in Islam, shouldering dual responsibilities, not only Qataris, but also Muslims, who account for about 1/4 of the world population and a total of about 2 billion. The article also said that Qatar is not as widely known as Saudi Arabia, the "guardian of Islamic holy places", nor has it become a commercial and tourist center in the region like the United Arab Emirates. Therefore, Qatar remains a mystery to the public in many countries. But in any case, by hosting the World Cup, Qatar seized the opportunity to show itself and the Islamic and Arab world.

Huang Peizhao, the special correspondent of Global Times in Egypt, Turkey, Mexico and Austria, has a great responsibility.