Why the Hardest Part of China–Gulf Cooperation Is Never the Project
- Sam Hongbo Sun
- Jul 10
- 4 min read
Author: Sam Hongbo Sun, Managing Director at HORIVISTA
In June, I was invited to attend the 17th Annual Meeting of the New Champions of the World Economic Forum — Summer Davos — in Dalian. Over a few days, I had the chance to speak with government representatives, investors, executives, and industry experts from China, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and across the GCC. I also reconnected with a number of old friends I've worked alongside for years.
The formal sessions covered the topics you'd expect — AI, the energy transition, advanced manufacturing, the digital economy, global supply chains. But what stayed with me wasn't any single panel. It was something that came up again and again, in meeting rooms, over lunch, over coffee, at dinner.
Almost everyone seriously engaged in China–GCC cooperation was circling the same observation.
There's no shortage of opportunity between China and the Gulf. There's no shortage of capable companies either. What actually determines whether a partnership lands — and holds — is rarely technology or capital. It's whether the two sides genuinely understand each other.
Why Projects Stall
Most partnerships start with real optimism. Chinese companies bring mature industrial capability, supply chains, and technical strength. Gulf partners bring clear national strategies, capital, and enormous market demand. On paper, it looks like a natural fit.
But once a project moves into execution, small frictions start to surface — frictions that, left unaddressed, quietly slow everything down.
A Chinese company often wants to move fast, expecting visible progress within months. A Gulf partner is usually more inclined to take the time to understand a company and its team first, and to build trust before committing.
Some companies assume that a strong product and a competitive price are enough to win the relationship. In practice, what matters more locally is long-term commitment, local participation, and a genuine understanding of the region's development goals.
And sometimes, even when neither side has done anything wrong, differences in communication style, decision-making process, business norms, or cultural expectations gradually erode the momentum a project started with.
None of this is really about fault. It's about people who grew up in different business environments naturally approaching cooperation in different ways.
Trust Doesn't Start After the Contract Is Signed
In conversations with friends from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and across the Gulf during Davos, one point kept resurfacing: the partnerships that actually matter are built on trust between people.
One government representative from the UAE put it simply — he'd seen too many partnerships lose momentum because one side moved too fast and ran out of patience. The ones that made it to the end were almost always the ones willing to take the time to really get to know who they were working with.
That kind of trust isn't built in a single meeting, a proposal, or a courtesy visit. It takes time. It takes sustained communication. And it takes both sides being willing to see the situation from the other's perspective — to understand why the other side thinks and decides the way it does.
Often, a project keeps moving forward not because the business model suddenly changed, but because the two sides finally started to understand each other.
A New Phase in China–Gulf Cooperation
For years, China–GCC cooperation centered mostly on energy, infrastructure, and trade. Today, new directions are emerging fast — AI, the digital economy, advanced manufacturing, new energy, biopharma, creative industries, consumer brands, education technology, and more.
More Chinese companies want to enter the Middle East. More Gulf institutions and companies want to understand China more deeply. The space for cooperation is wider than it's ever been.
At the same time, the bar for genuine cross-cultural capability has never been higher. The organizations that succeed going forward won't necessarily be the ones with the most resources — they'll be the ones that genuinely understand the local market, respect local culture, and know how to build trust over time.
What This Means for the Work I Do
Over the past years working this corridor, I've become more convinced of one thing: what really needs connecting isn't just company to company. It's mindset to mindset, culture to culture, trust to trust.
Most of the work that matters isn't arranging a meeting, organizing a site visit, or closing a single introduction. It's helping both sides understand each other's business logic earlier, read the local market more accurately, and build relationships that are built to last — not built to close.
Because the partnerships that actually succeed were never a single transaction. They were always the beginning of a longer relationship.
Summer Davos reinforced something I already believed: there will be no shortage of meaningful opportunities between China and the Gulf in the years ahead. The people who create lasting value will be the ones who can cross cultures, build trust, and connect what's on both sides of the table.
That's the work I keep coming back to.
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