Bridging the gap between overseas and Chinese perceptions on Sino-Middle Eastern relations: a Chinese perspective

ABSTRACT

Along with China's growing presence and influence in the Middle East, there are many misconceptions about Sino-Middle Eastern relations. This article unravels two questions: How has China understood the role of the Middle East in recent years? How has China framed its own role in the region? To address these questions, the article examines the reports of Sino-Middle Eastern relations in Chinese official media, and articles written by Chinese diplomats and scholars. Based upon content analysis, we find that neither the role of the Middle East nor the role of China itself has fundamentally changed in Chinese narratives. Although China has realized the necessity to adjust its role in the region, such idea is still abstract, immature, and ambiguous. The fact that China often proposes new diplomatic concepts before filling it with concrete substance is a root of the gulf between overseas and Chinese perceptions on Sino-Middle Eastern relations.

KEYWORDS:

• China’s foreign policy
• Sino-Middle Eastern relations
• Belt and Road Initiative
• Geopolitics

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 In fact, there were different versions regarding which states are involved in OBOR. For instance, whereas a report published by a website called Qian Xian (2014) in July 2014 stated that the project included 22 countries, another report published by Chinese Economic Net (2014) two months later suggested that there were 18 countries.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by China's Key National Social Science Research Program (‘China's Integrative Diplomacy towards the Arab Countries under the Framework of China-Arab States Cooperation Forum') under Grant [19AGJ010]; and Shanghai Municipal Education Commission under Grant [SIH3056031].

Notes on contributors

Chuchu Zhang

Chuchu Zhang is Associate Professor of International Relations at School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University. She is also Deputy Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Fudan University. She receives her PhD in Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge, UK. Her research focuses on Middle Eastern politics, Sino-Middle Eastern relations, and regional governance. She is author of Islamist Party Mobilization: Tunisia’s Ennahda and Algeria’s HMS Compared, 1989–2014 (Palgrave, 2020). She has published in many top peer reviewed journals including Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, Land Use Policy, Pacific Focus, Chinese Political Science Review, and Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies.

Chaowei Xiao

Chaowei Xiao is Assistant Professor of Public Policy at The National Academy of Development and Strategy, Renmin University of China. He receives his PhD in Land Economy, University of Cambridge, UK. Chaowei obtained his Msc from The Chinese University of Hong Kong in Geoinformation Science. His has conducted research on big data and urban governance, and Belt and Road Initiative. His recent articles have appeared in Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, Land Use Policy, and Urban Planning International.