Page 175 - Arabia the Gulf and the West

172 Arabia, the Gulf and the West

robbed the assurance of whatever value it possessed; which made it easier for

the Al Sabah to make a show of independence before the Arab world later in the
year - and, incidentally to placate the vociferous nationalist minority in the
Kuwaiti national assembly - by publicly repudiating the assurance. Hence­
forth, so the Kuwaiti prime minister, Shaikh Jabir ibn Ahmad (who was later
to become ruler on the death of Sabah ibn Salim in December 1977) boldly

informed the assembly in July’ 1968, Kuwait would neither need nor accept any
foreign presence, British or otherwise, in the area. What he omitted to explain
was that, while his government had indeed given notice to Britain on 13 May
1968 of its intention to terminate the agreement, it had also been careful to
stipulate that the notice was not to take effect for three years, i.e. until 13 May
1971.
A new refinement was added to Kuwait’s balancing act by the establishment
of diplomatic and trade relations with the People’s Republic of China in 1964, a

move that immediately drew down upon the Kuwaitis the wrath of the Soviet
Union. On a visit to Egypt in May of that year Nikita Khrushchev publicly
denounced the Kuwaitis in vehement language. ‘There is some little ruler
sitting there, an Arab of course, a Muslim. He is given bribes. He lives the life
of the rich, but he is trading on the wealth of his people. He never had any

conscience and he will never have any.’ Though the Al Sabah were no doubt
offended by the insulting attack, it did not prevent them from concluding an
economic and technical agreement with the Soviet Union in February 1965, by
which the Russians undertook to assist Kuwait with the development of its
fishing industry as well as with road building, water prospecting and medical
services. The establishment of full diplomatic relations followed in due course,
the political atmosphere having undergone an improvement after Khrush­

chev’s fall from power.
Trade with the communist world, which had been virtually non-existent
before 1964, grew rapidly in the succeeding decade. Other economic initiauves
followed. For example, Kuwait joined with Libya in 1975 in financing the
construction of a pipeline to take Middle-Eastern oil from the Adriatic coast to
Yugoslav refineries, as well as to Czechoslovakia and Hungary. A loan of $4°

million was granted to Hungary in December 1974- Two years later Kuwait
undertook to meet half the cost of construction of a refinery and petro-cherruc
complex in Rumania (estimated at $1,250 million), and to supply Rumania
with 160,000 barrels of oil a day. A step of potentially greater significance was
taken in April 1974 when Kuwait concluded an arms agreement with the oviet
Union. Two further agreements followed, the second of which, signe in
Moscow in January 1976 by the commander-in-chief of the Kuwaiti e en

force, Shaikh Mubarak ibn Abdullah Al Sabah, covered the provision of arms,
military instruction, technical assistance with the local manufacture o ar
and the construction of a naval port and military air base. The tota cos
programme was reported to be in the vicinity of $2,800 million, why