This book provides a detailed analysis of China's foreign policy towards the Gulf and Arabian peninsula region from the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 to the end of the 20th century. Based on extensive original research, it looks at the relations between China and each of the countries of the region over the entire period. It demonstrates that two key factors have shaped China's foreign policy with the region - China's relations with the United States and the Soviet Union, and China's drive to increase its economic ties with the countries of the region, especially after becoming a net importer of oil in the early 1990s.

As China’s international political role grows, its relations with states outside of its traditional sphere of interests is evolving. This is certainly the case of the Gulf monarchies of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, which together comprise the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). China’s levels of interdependence with these states has increased dramatically in recent years, spanning a wide range of interests. What motivating factors explain the Chinese leadership’s decision to forge closer ties to the GCC? Why have GCC leaders developed closer ties to China, and what kind of role can China be expected to play in the region as levels of interdependence intensify? This book uses neoclassical realism to analyse the evolution of Sino-GCC relations. Examining the pressures that shaped China’s policy toward the Gulf monarchies, it demonstrates that systemic considerations have been predominant since 1949, yet domestic political considerations were also always an important consideration. Relations are examined across diplomatic and political interactions, trade and investment, infrastructure and construction projects, people-to-people exchanges, and military and security cooperation. This book will appeal to scholars in the fields of International Relations and International Political Economy, as well as area specialists on China, the Gulf, the Gulf Monarchies, and those working on foreign policy issues.

The book considers the impact of COVID-19 on the GCC member states through the prism of challenges faced by their hydrocarbon sector. Yet, the publication’s discourse is not solely focused on the problems experienced by the oil and gas industries of the GCC member states after the beginning of the COVID pandemic. Instead, the contributors will analyze how these challenges and subsequent response to them affected other aspects of the GCC socio-economic and political development, from direct impact of the COVID on the energy sector of the GCC to socio-economic consequences of the oil market crisis for the region and its potential fallouts for the international relations of the Gulf.

This book examines the communist movement in the Arab world from the time of the Russian revolution until after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It traces the interaction of the world communist movement which was characterized by an uncritical acceptance of Marxism-Leninism, and local communists, who moved from initial dependence on Moscow to a position more adapted to local circumstances and sensitivities that could be characterized as a distinctive 'Arab communism'. It goes on to trace the impact of 'Arab communism' on a range of issues in the region, arguing that the role of Arab communist parties was highly significant, and disproportionate to the relatively small numbers of communists in the countries concerned.

Whereas most studies of Islamism focus on politics and religious ideology, this book analyses the ways in which Islamism in the Arab world is defined, reflected, transmitted and contested in a variety of creative and other cultural forms. It covers a range of contexts of production and reception, from the early twentieth century to the present, and with reference to cultural production in and/or about Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, the Gulf, Lebanon and Israel/Palestine. The material engaged with is produced in Arabic, English and French and includes fiction, autobiography, feature films, television series, television reportage, the press, rap music and video games. Throughout, the book highlights the multiple forms and contested interpretations of Islamism in the Arab world, exploring trends and tensions in the ways Islamism is represented to (primarily) Arab audiences and complicating simplistic perspectives on this phenomenon. The book considers repeated and idiosyncratic themes, modes of characterisation, motifs, structures of feeling and forms of engagement, in the context of an ongoing struggle for symbolic power in the region.

Noted Gulf expert Christopher Davidson contends that the collapse of these kings, emirs, and sultans is going to happen, and was always going to.

Since the mid-1990s, the Chinese authorities have gradually come to embrace multilateralism to realize their basic foreign policy objectives in maintaining a peaceful international environment and enhancing China's international status and influence. This embrace is largely based on pragmatic considerations. There is no denial, however, that elements of liberalism and constructivism gradually enter into the considerations of Chinese leaders. They accept, for example, that non-traditional security issues can only be tackled through genuine multilateralism. This volume carefully examines China's increased participation in multilateral organizations and mechanisms and its efforts to initiate and develop its own discourses on global affairs straddling Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the Latin American continents. China's presence in international multilateral organizations has been providing developing countries a better chance to maintain a balance of power. Since China has no ambitious plan to transform the existing international order, its increasing enthusiastic engagement of multilateralism is likely to be accepted by the international community.

This book examines the changing relations between the Asian part of the Middle East and the rest of the continent during the 21st century. Written by leading experts, this ground-breaking volume utilizes a comprehensive and multi-dimensional perspective to offer a novel and unique outlook on the evolving shape of East-West Asia relations and their global impact. Critically, it demonstrates that the intensification and diversification of East-West Asia relations since the 1990s have altered them from a set of separated bilateral ties into complex interregional relations. The book presents a nuanced, comparative look at Asian countries’ responses to global developments, and China’s rise in particular, and offers a new perspective on the very concept of Asia itself. It will be of interest to scholars, students, and practitioners working in the fields of International Relations, Asian Studies, and Middle Eastern Studies.

This handbook brings together a mix of established and emerging international scholars to provide valuable analytical insights into how China’s growing Middle East presence affects intra-regional development, trade, security, and diplomacy. As the largest extra-regional economic actor in the Middle East, China is the biggest source of foreign direct investment into the region and the largest trading partner for most Middle Eastern states. This portends a larger role in political and security affairs, as the value of Chinese assets combined with a growing expatriate population in the region demands a more proactive role in contributing to regional order. Exploring the effect of these developments, the expert contributors also consider the reverberations in great power politics, as the United States, Russia, India, Japan, and the European Union also have considerable interests in the region. The book is divided into four sections: • Historical and policy context • State and regional case studies • Trade and development • International relations, security, and diplomacy. This volume is an essential reference for scholars and policy-makers in the fields of international relations, political sociology, international political economy, and foreign policy analysis. Area studies specialists in Middle Eastern Studies, China Studies, and East Asian Studies will also find it an invaluable resource.

Since China announced the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, the Gulf States have regarded it as a means for diversifying their national economies in order to reduce dependence on oil revenues and to achieve their national development strategy. The Persian Gulf region has a significant role in the successful implementation of BRI. Emerging strategic, diplomatic and financial partnerships will enable China to control the flow of its exports to world markets. The BRI has five major goals: Policy coordination, facilities connectivity, free trade, financial integration, and people-to-people bonds. Facilities connectivity, which focuses on transportation and energy infrastructure, is the initiatives priority. The integration between the national development plans of Gulf monarchies, the economic reconstruction plans of Iraq and Iran, and the new economic goals of Saudi Arabia, with Chinas Belt and Road vision have converged to bring forward opportunities. The implementation of the new Silk Road strategy will unleash a regional infrastructure boom by connecting China with Asia, Europe, and Africa by land and sea, boosting renminbi internationalization. Nevertheless, there are challenges that could complicate the envisaged bilateral partnerships. Saudi Arabia: The strategic synergy between the BRI and Saudi Vision 2030 has forged a joint economic development path, but external conflicts (Yemen, Iran) could derail plans. Iran: While Tehran has a special geographical status in West Asia, Washingtons decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement might create Sino-Iranian trade barriers. The UAE: In July 2018 bilateral relations were elevated to a comprehensive strategic partnership. The synergy between the BRI and UAE Vision 2021 is multifaceted trade, energy, infrastructure and logistics, financial services, military ties, tourism and cultural cooperation but very complex. Most of the Gulf States are governed by monarchies, are at the primary stage of industrialization, and are susceptible to US and European influence. The challenges Chinas ascendancy poses for the US, and the inevitable geopolitical fight back, in conjunction with Gulf regional turbulence, mean that the BRI project will face substantive challenges in the years ahead.