China and the Middle East after the Arab Spring: From Status-Quo Observing to Proactive Engagement

Abstract

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.