Sino-Arab Cooperation and Its Impact on Human Rights in the Arab Region

Abstract

This paper seeks to map the effects of current Sino-Arab cooperation on human rights in the Arab region. It starts by looking at Chinese perspectives on human rights, which prioritise economic and collective rights over individualist politics and emphasise local specificities. The paper then examines the development of the cooperation agenda before analysing the impacts of this cooperation in light of the humanitarian crises witnessed in the region over the last two decades. The paper follows a multi-tiered methodological approach, combining survey and inductive approaches with comparative case studies. Given the Chinese view of human rights, which Arab authoritarian regimes have taken as an inspirational model, the paper concludes that this cooperation has an array of implications for human rights in the region. Chinese investments in oil and coal-producing electricity projects have also caused damage to the environment. At the level of military cooperation, the use of Chinese weapons in conflicts throughout the region has numerous negative repercussions. Nevertheless, the impact of China’s policies on the Arab crises under consideration in Sudan, Libya, Yemen, and Syria has varied depending on the nature of the crisis, China’s interests, and the parties involved.