China's new face in the Middle East and North Africa: from economic giant to political heavyweight? (original) (raw)
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CHINA AND THE MIDDLE EAST: VENTURING INTO THE MAELSTROM
China’s increasingly significant economic and security interests in the Middle East have several impacts. It affects not only its energy security but also its regional posture, relations with regional powers as well as the United States, and efforts to pacify nationalist and Islamist Uighurs in its north-western province of Xinjiang. Those interests are considerably enhanced by China’s One Belt, One Road initiative that seeks to patch together a Eurasian land mass through inter-linked infrastructure, investment and expanded trade relations. Protecting its mushrooming interests is forcing China to realign its policies and relationships in the region. As it takes stock of the Middle East and North Africa’s volatility and tumultuous, often violent political transitions, China feels the pressure to acknowledge that it no longer can remain aloof to the Middle East and North Africa’s multiple conflicts. China’s long-standing insistence on non-interference in the domestic affairs of others, refusal to envision a foreign military presence and its perseverance that its primary focus is the development of mutually beneficial economic and commercial relations, increasingly falls short of what it needs to do to safeguard its vital interests. Increasingly, China will have to become a regional player in competitive cooperation with the United States, the dominant external actor in the region for the foreseeable future. The pressure to revisit long-standing foreign and defence policy principles is also driven by the fact that China’s key interests in the Middle East and North Africa have expanded significantly beyond the narrow focus of energy despite its dependence on the region for half of its oil imports.1 Besides the need to protect its investments and nationals, China has a strategic stake in the stability of countries across the Eurasian landmass as a result of its One Belt, One Road initiative and the threat of blowback in Xinjiang of unrest in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. China has signalled its gradual recognition of these new realities with the publication in January 2016 of an Arab Policy Paper, the country’s first articulation of a policy towards the Middle East and North Africa. But, rather than spelling out specific policies, the paper reiterated the generalities of China’s core focus in its relations with the Arab world: economics, energy, counter-terrorism, security, technical cooperation and its One Belt, One Road initiative. Ultimately however, China will have to develop a strategic vision that outlines foreign and defence policies it needs to put in place to protect its expanding strategic, geopolitical, economic, and commercial interests in the Middle East and North Africa; its role and place in the region as a rising superpower in the region; and its relationship and cooperation with the United States in managing, if not resolving conflict.
CHINA'S EVOLVING MIDDLE EAST ROLE
ISDP POLICY PAPERS, 2016
Under the leadership of Xi Jinping, China has sought to further consolidate and diversify its relations in the Middle East. This comes on the back of the Chinese lead-er’s Middle East tour in January and the articulation of a new “Arab Policy” unveiled in the same month. Focused on energy, trade, and transport, China is seeking to maximize its economic ties and interests in the region. In particular, Middle Eastern oil supplies remain critical for China’s con-tinued economic development. However, becoming more engaged in the region brings with it a number of implica-tions, not least that Beijing will find it necessary to balance its ties between Sunni and Shia countries.
BRIQ, 2019
Can the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) provide a remedy to current problems in the Middle East? What are the driving forces, opportunities and challenges for China to play a constructive role in the Middle East? These are some of the questions that this article will attempt to answer. Domestic academia in China had extensively discussed the “westward strategy” before the Belt and Road Initiative was put forward. At that time, this strategy was conceived of as a hedge against the “Asia Pacific Rebalancing Strategy” of the United States. However, under the Belt and Road Initiative, China is also engaged in strengthening its interactions with Middle Eastern countries, which will be an important way to further strengthen China’s Western front as an extension of China’s opening up to the outside world, a further acceleration of Eurasian linkages, and an effort towards further strengthening globalization. The “Belt and Road Initiative” faced severe Western criticism. Yet in fact, this initiative is not modeled on the post-World War II Marshall Plan as a Chinese conspiracy. The initiative is not a geopolitical tool, but it is intended to serve as a practical cooperation platform. The Middle East is an important site on the strategic roadmap of the Belt and Road Initiative. Indeed, achieving regional stability is in line with China’s overseas strategic interests. Without getting on the train, however, China will not learn how to drive. It is through participation in the practical process of addressing these problems that China can accumulate greater experience in managing international conflicts and improve its ability to deal with complicated international disputes.
Can the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) provide a remedy to current problems in the Middle East? What are the driving forces, opportunities and challenges for China to play a constructive role in the Middle East? These are some of the questions that this article will attempt to answer. Domestic academia in China had extensively discussed the "westward strategy" before the Belt and Road Initiative was put forward. At that time, this strategy was conceived of as a hedge against the "Asia Pacific Rebalancing Strategy" of the United States. However, under the Belt and Road Initiative, China is also engaged in strengthening its interactions with Middle Eastern countries, which will be an important way to further strengthen China's Western front as an extension of China's opening up to the outside world, a further acceleration of Eurasian linkages, and an effort towards further strengthening globalization. The "Belt and Road Initiative" faced severe Western criticism. Yet in fact, this initiative is not modeled on the post-World War II Marshall Plan as a Chinese conspiracy. The initiative is not a geopolitical tool, but it is intended to serve as a practical cooperation platform. The Middle East is an important site on the strategic roadmap of the Belt and Road Initiative. Indeed, achieving regional stability is in line with China's overseas strategic interests. Without getting on the train, however, China will not learn how to drive. It is through participation in the practical process of addressing these problems that China can accumulate greater experience in managing international conflicts and improve its ability to deal with complicated international disputes.
DECIPHERING CHINA IN THE MIDDLE EAST
EU ISS Brief, 2020
As a relative newcomer to the region, China has already made significant inroads in the Middle East: many regional states have welcomed its presence and shown eagerness to become involved in its ambitious ‘Belt and Road Initiative’. › The fact that China does not attach any conditions to trade relationships means that its engagement is positively perceived by many states in the region, including US regional allies, much to the dismay of Washington. › Given its status as the second-largest economy in the world, China’s economic penetration of the Middle East inevitably has far-reaching foreign policy and security implications. It remains to be seen if the region turns into an arena of struggle for a new world order between the US and China, which would also have far-reaching implications for the EU.
China as an Alternative Power in Middle East: Its Outcomes for the Region's Future
Global Political Review
This research considers China's Middle East policies and commitments, including international alliances, regional disputes, and trade ties. It compiles information on arms transfers to the Middle East, as well as Chinese imports and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the region. Moreover, the study applies the power transition theory to justify the choice of Middle Eastern states that how external circumstances forced them to look beyond the American umbrella to protect the sovereignty and economic interest. Besides, the primary data has mostly been incorporated from the official files, speeches and statements of the Chinese president and Middle East diplomats and policymakers. Overall, this paper examines China's overall military, economic, and foreign footprint, shedding light on the state's current and potential involvement in the Middle East.
THE NEW ROLE OF CHINA IN THE MIDDLE EAST-conference program.pdf
The Cyprus Center for European and International Affairs in cooperation with the School of Law of the University of Nicosia and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) is organizing a Symposium entitled THE NEW ROLE OF CHINA IN THE MIDDLE EAST The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Broader Repercussions Thursday, January 17, 2019 09:00 – 18:00 UNESCO Amphitheatre, Europa Building University of Nicosia
China’s Role in the Middle East: Current Debates and Future Trends
China Quarterly of International Strategic Studies, 2017
There are two prevailing arguments among international observers about China’s role in the Middle East. One is that China has been a “security free-rider;” the other is that China is fundamentally a business-seeker. Yet neither of the two is well-grounded. If viewed comprehensively rather than in terms of military engagement alone, China’s contribution to stability and security of the region is enormous, and its role in the Middle East can be described as a combination of a major economic partner, a low-profile mediator and a modest but important provider of security public goods. As China has proposed various new concepts and initiatives as guidelines of its foreign policy, its future policy toward the Middle East can be best understood through its increasing efforts to promote the “Belt and Road” initiative, to develop a new-type major-power relationship, and to uphold justice and pursue shared interests with all related countries. With ever more Chinese engagement in the region, ...
China's Debate on the Middle East and North Africa: A Critical Review
This article focuses on the impact of the growing instability of the Middle East and North Africa region on the evolution of Chinese foreign policy. A shift of the traditional foreign policy paradigm seems undergoing as a consequence of the US rebalancing in Asia-Pacific and the growing Chinese dependence on continental resources and stability. This chapter will try to identify this trend through a critical assessment of the most recent scholarly debate among Chinese experts from several key academic and institutional centers. The chapter will conclude by identifying some medium term trends in the evolution of Chinese strategy in this region and the potential space for cooperation with other external actors like United States
The Middle East is of major interest to China because it supplies half of the country’s imported oil. • The security and stability of the Middle Eastern Nations are of major importance to China, but Beijing is reluctant to get too deeply enmeshed in the region’s complex politics. • New dynamics in the Middle East beg not just an economic but also a geopolitical response from