Since 2000s, there have been a range of countries in the Middle East placing greater emphasis on strategic autonomy. In this regard, the United Arab Emirates is an important case, which has been much more assertive and activist in its foreign and security policy as well as making every efforts to bolster internal capabilities in defense, diplomacy, energy, and technology to achieve strategic autonomy since the Arab uprisings of 2011. This article proposes that UAE’s rising profile and its quest for strategic autonomy may be studied through the changes of its national role orientation. National role orientation is an important variable in the formulation and implementation of a country's foreign policy, and it is also the result of the combined effects of various factors, including geopolitical environment, country size, resource endowment, and policymakers’ tendency. Since its establishment in 1971, the UAE's foreign policy can be divided into three stages: 1971-1990, 1990-2011, 2011 up to now. During these three stages, the UAE has successively witnessed changes of its national role orientation and the corresponding transformation of foreign policies: from “a small state bandwagoning with the regional power (Saudi Arabia)” to “an emerging regional power bandwagoning with the global power (America)”, then to “a key regional power hedging between global powers (America and China)”. Based on different national roles and foreign policies, the UAE used multiple policy tools, including foreign aid, conflict mediation, military intervention, as well as state branding in the fields of education, museums, exhibitions, sports and aviation.