As China’s international political role grows, its relations with states outside of its traditional sphere of interests is evolving. This is certainly the case of the Gulf monarchies of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, which together comprise the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). China’s levels of interdependence with these states has increased dramatically in recent years, spanning a wide range of interests. What motivating factors explain the Chinese leadership’s decision to forge closer ties to the GCC? Why have GCC leaders developed closer ties to China, and what kind of role can China be expected to play in the region as levels of interdependence intensify? This book uses neoclassical realism to analyse the evolution of Sino-GCC relations. Examining the pressures that shaped China’s policy toward the Gulf monarchies, it demonstrates that systemic considerations have been predominant since 1949, yet domestic political considerations were also always an important consideration. Relations are examined across diplomatic and political interactions, trade and investment, infrastructure and construction projects, people-to-people exchanges, and military and security cooperation. This book will appeal to scholars in the fields of International Relations and International Political Economy, as well as area specialists on China, the Gulf, the Gulf Monarchies, and those working on foreign policy issues.
China's relationship with the developing world is a fundamental part of its larger foreign policy strategy. Sweeping changes both within and outside of China and the transformation of geopolitics since the end of the cold war have prompted Beijing to reevaluate its strategies and objectives in regard to emerging nations.Featuring contributions by recognized experts, this is the first full-length treatment of China's relationship with the developing world in nearly two decades. Section one provides a general overview and framework of analysis for this important aspect of Chinese policy. The chapters in the second part of the book systematically examine China's relationships with Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, Latin America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. The book concludes with a look into the future of Chinese foreign policy.
This book provides a detailed analysis of China's foreign policy towards the Gulf and Arabian peninsula region from the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 to the end of the 20th century. Based on extensive original research, it looks at the relations between China and each of the countries of the region over the entire period. It demonstrates that two key factors have shaped China's foreign policy with the region - China's relations with the United States and the Soviet Union, and China's drive to increase its economic ties with the countries of the region, especially after becoming a net importer of oil in the early 1990s.
This manuscript examines relations between China and the Middle East in historical context. It highlights some of the most important events that characterize the ties between China and the Middle East, and examines their relationship in key areas that include energy, trade, arms sales, culture and politics. The centre of China's relations with Israel is arms sales and advanced technology, while the core of Sino-Saudi relations is oil. Iran and China are tied with deep historical, civilizational, cultural and political relations, but China's current interests in Iran centre on oil. Relations between China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) centre on trade. The UAE serve as a primary hub for Chinese business corporations not only in the Gulf or the wider Middle East, but also in Africa and the world. China's relations with Algeria have been based on political co-ordination since the early days of the Algerian War of Independence and the early days of the People's Republic of China. China provided Algeria with political, diplomatic and military support to accomplish its national liberation from France. Since then, their partnership has developed. Finally, the book develops a tridimensional approach in which China's ties with Middle Eastern countries are viewed as an outcome of interaction between three actors in each situation. The book reaches the conclusion that China's national interests in the Middle East are only increasing, and it is anticipated that Sino-Middle Eastern relations and strategic partnerships will be enhanced in the near future, provided that China is not perceived as undermining the Arab Spring. Key Features Offers an in-depth analysis of Chinese-Middle Eastern relations Assists students and scholars in understanding the uniqueness of the Chinese model of engagement in the Middle East Explains why most Middle Easterners prefer China's engagement to Western engagement Explores the future of Sino-Middle Eastern relations
The Peoples Republic of China (PRC) diplomatic engagement with the Middle East spans multiple dimensions, including trade and investment, the energy sector, and military cooperation. Connecting China through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean and Europe, the Middle East is a unique geostrategic location for Beijing, a critical source of energy resources, and an area of expanding economic ties. The Middle East geographical and political area is subject to different country inclusion interpretations that have changed over time and reflect complex and multifaceted circumstances involving conflict, religion, ethnicity, and language. China considers most Arab League member countries (as well as Israel, Turkey, and Iran) as representing the Middle East. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and official Chinese publications refer to this region as Xiya beifei (West Asia and North Africa). China sees the Middle East as an intrinsic part of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and has ramped up investment in the region accordingly, focusing on energy (including nuclear power), infrastructure construction, agriculture, and finance. This book uses the BRI as a framework for analyzing ChinaMiddle East relations, with special emphasis on the PRCs strategic partnerships via regional mutual interdependency in various sectors such as energy, infrastructure building, political ties, trade and investment, financial integration, people to people bonding, and defense. A stable Middle East region is vital for Chinas sustainable growth and continued prosperity. As the worlds largest oil consumer with an ambition to expand its economic and political influence, the Middle Easts geostrategic location and holder of most of the worlds known energy resources make it indispensable to the success of the Belt and Road Initiative.
The Middle East, a few decades ago, was seen to be an autonomous subsystem of the global international political system. More recently, the region has been subordinated to the hegemony of a singular superpower, the US, bolstered by an alliance with Israel and a network of Arab client states. The subordination of the contemporary Middle East has resulted in large part from the disappearance of countervailing forces, for example, global bipolarity, that for a while allowed the Arab world in particular to exercise a modicum of flexibility in shaping its international relations.The aspirations of the indigenous population of the Middle East have been stifled by the dynamics of the unequal global power relationships, and domestic politics of the countries of the region are regularly subordinated to the prerogatives of international markets and the strategic competition of the great powers. Employing the concept of imperialism, defined as a pattern of alliances between a center (rulers) in the Center (developed) country and a center (client regime) in the Periphery (underdeveloped country) - as an overall framework to analyse the subordination of the region, this book is essential reading for students and scholars of the Middle East, International Relations, and Politics in general.
In an act of totally unnecessary and wanton destruction, British forces in China during the Second Opium War (1856-1860) looted and destroyed much of the Old Imperial Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan) including three imperial gardens and hundreds of halls, pavilions, and temples stock full of ancient artwork, antiquities, and literary works. More than a hundred years later, President Xi Jinping (2013- ) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) proclaimed the “rejuvenation” of the Chinese nation with the economic and especially military power to prevent any such recurrence of “national humiliation.” Though not yet a superpower equal in global stature to the United States, the PRC is undoubtedly poised to become the equal if not the superior power in the Asia-Pacific region expanding its territorial claims in the South China Sea and asserting undisputed economic dominance. With government, business, and academic leaders debating how regional and global powers should respond to a rising China. Historical Dictionary of Chinese Foreign Affairs contains a chronology, an introduction, a glossary, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 300 cross-referenced entries on major events, national institutions, foreign nations, and personages impacting Chinese foreign affairs along with the many institutions of the post-World War II international order that the PRC has engaged especially since the 1970s. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Chinese foreign affairs.
This handbook brings together a mix of established and emerging international scholars to provide valuable analytical insights into how China’s growing Middle East presence affects intra-regional development, trade, security, and diplomacy. As the largest extra-regional economic actor in the Middle East, China is the biggest source of foreign direct investment into the region and the largest trading partner for most Middle Eastern states. This portends a larger role in political and security affairs, as the value of Chinese assets combined with a growing expatriate population in the region demands a more proactive role in contributing to regional order. Exploring the effect of these developments, the expert contributors also consider the reverberations in great power politics, as the United States, Russia, India, Japan, and the European Union also have considerable interests in the region. The book is divided into four sections: • Historical and policy context • State and regional case studies • Trade and development • International relations, security, and diplomacy. This volume is an essential reference for scholars and policy-makers in the fields of international relations, political sociology, international political economy, and foreign policy analysis. Area studies specialists in Middle Eastern Studies, China Studies, and East Asian Studies will also find it an invaluable resource.
Today, by many accounts, China is the world's foremost purveyor of foreign aid and foreign investment to developing countries. This is the product of China's miracle economic growth over a period of more than three decades, together with China's drive to become a major player in world affairs and accomplish this through economic rather than military means. This three-volume work is the first comprehensive study of China's aid and investment strategy to trace how it has evolved since Beijing launched its foreign aid diplomacy at the time of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Volume III offers an analysis of China's foreign aid and investment to countries outside of Asia: in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and Oceania. Africa was and is the most important of these regions and it is given special treatment. In the concluding chapter, Copper reviews the findings of previous the volumes, delineates China's most important victories and setbacks, and notes opposition to and criticism of China's aid and investment diplomacy. Copper gives evidence that will be shocking to some of the reality that China's financial help to developing countries is one of the most salient trends in international politics and constitutes a formidable challenge to the United States, Japan, and Europe, as well as international financial institutions.