China-Middle East

The CSIS Middle East program is studying the implications of China’s increasing role in the Middle East. As China becomes a global power and many Middle Eastern countries look for a counterweight to the United States, Chinese approaches to energy security, export markets and military ties have an important impact on global diplomacy. At the same time, the Chinese experience of economic growth without significant political liberalization remains an interesting, if not outright attractive, example for some Middle Eastern regimes. Through seminars in China, the Middle East and the United States, the Middle East Program will evaluate emerging trends and opportunities in China’s evolving relations with the Middle East.

As part of a center wide CSIS study seeking a smarter approach to US-China relations, the Middle East Program participates in research examining China's soft power strategies in the Middle East. In March of 2009 Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East Program, contributed to the CSIS Report Chinese Soft Power and Its Implications for the United States.

In June of 2008 the Middle East Program held a conference for the launching of The Vital Triangle: China, the United States, and the Middle East (PDF version). The book was preceded by a conference held in Abu Dhabi in October of 2007, which was co-hosted by the CSIS Middle East Program and the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR). The conference convened a range of Gulf, Chinese and American experts to examine Middle Eastern views of the triangular relationship.

Click on the link below to read a PDF version of the book:

Purchase the book here.