The West Must Confront the UAE’s Emerging Role as a Haven for Hostile State Activity

The international community has increasingly awakened to the dangers posed by hostile states operating beyond their own borders. Vladimir Putin’s war machine relies on networks designed to circumvent Western sanctions. Beijing’s campaign of repression extends far beyond China’s borders. Meanwhile, dirty money and cross-border financial crime continue to erode the rule of law at home. Alarmingly, the United Arab Emirates has emerged as a haven for all three threats simultaneously.

This issue demands urgent attention precisely because the West is deepening its economic ties with the UAE. The European Union is currently weighing a bilateral free trade agreement, and the UAE is actively pursuing accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Closer economic relations undoubtedly offer opportunities, but they should not shield uncomfortable questions from scrutiny.

For the author, the most troubling dimension involves the Uyghur people.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has subjected Uyghurs to widespread arbitrary detention, intrusive surveillance, religious and cultural repression, forced labour, and torture in the Uyghur region. The independent Uyghur Tribunal concluded that China had committed genocide against the Uyghur people through measures intentionally designed to prevent births. The UN Human Rights Office determined in 2022 that these abuses may amount to crimes against humanity, and Human Rights Watch has more recently reported that severe repression continues, including increased pressure on Uyghurs living abroad.

Beijing has increasingly extended its reach beyond its borders through what is now referred to as transnational repression, and the UAE has appeared repeatedly in the evidence.

Research conducted by the Uyghur Human Rights Project and the Oxus Society identified the UAE among six Arab states involved in China’s transnational repression of Uyghurs. Human Rights Watch has previously documented cases of Uyghurs detained in the Emirates who faced deportation back to China.

Reporting by the Associated Press revealed that UAE authorities arrested and deported at least five Uyghurs to China between late 2017 and early 2018. In one reported instance, a Uyghur detainee was interrogated in the UAE by individuals believed to be Chinese police officers.

Broader concerns about Chinese security operations have also surfaced. Freedom House reported that in 2021, UAE authorities detained a young Chinese dissident transiting through Dubai airport and allowed Chinese embassy officials to interrogate him. His girlfriend reported being separately held for eight days in what she described as a Chinese-run “black site” in Dubai.

For Uyghurs, this is not an abstract geopolitical debate. Individuals who fled the CCP have discovered that its reach can stretch thousands of miles beyond China’s borders. A country that seeks a privileged economic relationship with Britain should be a bulwark against such repression—not another location where it is permitted to flourish.

Nor is China the sole source of concern. Western governments have repeatedly identified UAE-based enterprises as components of networks sustaining Russia’s war economy. The UK and EU have sanctioned companies for their involvement in trading Russian oil, employing opaque corporate structures and deceptive shipping practices to facilitate such trade.

The US Treasury has described the UAE as one of the jurisdictions Russia has exploited to acquire foreign-made technology and equipment, and has sanctioned numerous UAE-based businesses for supplying high-priority goods to Moscow. It has also separately targeted Dubai-based financial and cryptocurrency operations for facilitating Russian finance and sanctions evasion.

Illicit finance and the rule of law present yet another dimension. The UAE has undertaken reforms and was removed from the Financial Action Task Force’s “grey list” in 2024. Britain and the UAE also maintain a formal partnership to combat illicit financial flows, with this month marking the anniversary of its reinforcement. However, cooperation should be evaluated by results, not by declarations.

Consider the case of Muhammad Tahir Lakhani and Muhammad Ali Lakhani, British citizens who were found liable by the UK High Court for fraud totalling approximately US$45 million. The judgment found that false representations had been knowingly made to lenders. Despite these rulings, the Lakhani brothers continue to reside in the UAE and have not satisfied the court’s judgment.

The difficulties in enforcing cross-border fraud judgments in the UAE have grown so acute that legislators have raised the Lakhani case directly with government ministers. Yet when questioned about what representations had been made to UAE authorities and what guidance was available to victims, ministers declined to provide information. That silence provides little assurance that the existing system functions as it should.

These issues must not be addressed in isolation. Taken together, they expose a broader vulnerability: an international commercial hub can simultaneously become valuable territory for authoritarian states, sanctions evaders, and those seeking to place their assets—and themselves—beyond the effective reach of justice.

The answer is not to turn away from countries such as the UAE. The West has legitimate strategic and commercial reasons to engage with it, and closer cooperation can be part of the solution. Indeed, the UK will host the Illicit Finance Summit this December, aimed at strengthening global enforcement against illicit money and forging new partnerships on information sharing and asset recovery.

Trade cannot be separated from national security, human rights, and the rule of law. Before the EU enters into any new bilateral trade agreement with the UAE, commissioners should insist on measurable progress: an end to complicity in China’s persecution of Uyghurs; demonstrable action against sanctions evasion; and effective mechanisms through which lawful cross-border judgments can be recognised and enforced.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

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