This paper describes the status quo of China-Middle East and North Africa(MENA)relations in the early 2000s,identifies the Arab Spring as a pivot point in Chinese engagement in the region,and notes increasingly proact...This paper describes the status quo of China-Middle East and North Africa(MENA)relations in the early 2000s,identifies the Arab Spring as a pivot point in Chinese engagement in the region,and notes increasingly proactive Chinese diplomacy in the region in the past few years.Even if Beijing harbors no hegemonic ambitions along the lines of a post-Cold War United States,its far-flung economic interests mean that conflicts in the MENA have direct implications for Chinese affairs.Thus,China’s role in the MENA is evolving from status-quo observing to proactive engagement in order to address the mounting challenges in the region multilaterally.We conclude by suggesting that sustaining this kind of proactive engagement requires the foreign-policy infrastructure and international goodwill to do so.If China seeks to further expand its economic footprint in the region,it will need to invest more in knowledge production and academic study regarding the MENA,increase targeted development assistance to the region,and re-evaluate how it responds to major regional conflicts,both in terms of protecting its own interests and citizens and in terms of promoting peacebuilding and conflict resolution in the region.展开更多
Have Saudi relations with China changed amid the COVID-19 pandemic?Commentary focussed on the international relations of the Persian Gulf has speculated that China’s successful containment of the virus at home,combin...Have Saudi relations with China changed amid the COVID-19 pandemic?Commentary focussed on the international relations of the Persian Gulf has speculated that China’s successful containment of the virus at home,combined with new diplomatic overtures,might lead to closer relations between China and the region.This article offers a framework for scholars to partially address this and other foreign-policy questions regarding the Kingdom,through close readings of Saudi media outlets that shed light on mass attitudes and elite sentiment.Analysis of a range of Saudi op-eds and feature stories suggests that criticism of China within the Kingdom has diminished in recent years,but also indicates that this shift long predated the present pandemic.At the same time,while key commentators appear to harbour genuine respect and admiration for China’s economic development,Saudi Arabia’s close security partnership with the United States has served to temper pro-Chinese narratives within Saudi media.展开更多
文摘This paper describes the status quo of China-Middle East and North Africa(MENA)relations in the early 2000s,identifies the Arab Spring as a pivot point in Chinese engagement in the region,and notes increasingly proactive Chinese diplomacy in the region in the past few years.Even if Beijing harbors no hegemonic ambitions along the lines of a post-Cold War United States,its far-flung economic interests mean that conflicts in the MENA have direct implications for Chinese affairs.Thus,China’s role in the MENA is evolving from status-quo observing to proactive engagement in order to address the mounting challenges in the region multilaterally.We conclude by suggesting that sustaining this kind of proactive engagement requires the foreign-policy infrastructure and international goodwill to do so.If China seeks to further expand its economic footprint in the region,it will need to invest more in knowledge production and academic study regarding the MENA,increase targeted development assistance to the region,and re-evaluate how it responds to major regional conflicts,both in terms of protecting its own interests and citizens and in terms of promoting peacebuilding and conflict resolution in the region.
基金special issue of Sino-Saudi Relations is a joint project of Asian Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies and King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies,Saudi Arabia.
文摘Have Saudi relations with China changed amid the COVID-19 pandemic?Commentary focussed on the international relations of the Persian Gulf has speculated that China’s successful containment of the virus at home,combined with new diplomatic overtures,might lead to closer relations between China and the region.This article offers a framework for scholars to partially address this and other foreign-policy questions regarding the Kingdom,through close readings of Saudi media outlets that shed light on mass attitudes and elite sentiment.Analysis of a range of Saudi op-eds and feature stories suggests that criticism of China within the Kingdom has diminished in recent years,but also indicates that this shift long predated the present pandemic.At the same time,while key commentators appear to harbour genuine respect and admiration for China’s economic development,Saudi Arabia’s close security partnership with the United States has served to temper pro-Chinese narratives within Saudi media.
