Saudi-Iran deal has many analysts wondering whether China will shun its long-standing neutrality and emerge as a more assertive actor in the Middle East. Here's what experts on China have to say
As the US embraced a policy of withdrawal from the Middle East, China stepped in to fill the void, emerging as an important player in the energy-rich region.
“Asymmetric neutrality” as a principle leads China to a balancing act by supporting Russian concerns over NATO expansion and the West hegemony and, simultaneously, offering to broker peace in theNevertheless, this policy has brought results for China and the volatile region, as exemplified by the recent thaw in the frosty relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
“China does not have any recent record of attempting to push systemic change in other countries. That makes it different from the US and also from China in the Mao era,” says Dr Chubb. “Economics is not apolitical. The search for energy security, for example, is connected to regime legitimacy in China and the way that the CCP wants to govern,” says Breslin.In addition to the policy of non-interference, China also does not claim to be a security provider in the region as the US did.
Though it claims not to provide security first-hand as the US did, Beijing has been a big defence exporter to the region. Also, its huge investment in commercial ports in the Middle East has shown its long-term goal to strengthen naval facilities there and have a say in the control of waterways. . “The US is no longer a major energy importer, while by contrast, China relies on imports for a large volume of its oil in particular.
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