China’s shifting Middle East policy

By Deborah Lehr as featured on Arab News

Chinese President Xi Jinping this week traveled to Moscow to meet with his friend and ally, Vladimir Putin. It was the 40th time that the two have met since Xi took office more than a decade ago. The visit not only solidified China’s strategic partnership with Russia, but Xi also hopes it will help deliver a potential ceasefire in Ukraine. A call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will reportedly occur next.

The reports of an attempted negotiated ceasefire by President Xi came on top of the recent news that China had brokered a major diplomatic deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran. For more than a decade, China has steadily expanded its influence across the Middle East. It has peppered the region with investments through its Belt and Road Initiative and grown to be the region’s largest trading partner. All the while, it has mostly avoided entangling itself in the messy politics and sectarian rivalries of the region.