Your attention is my motivation, and your support is the direction we are heading. Follow me and you can see my latest articles. Appreciate the changes in the international situation.
In recent months, the violent escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has completely subverted the strategic layout of the United States in the Middle East. This conflict has made some of the United States sigh that China is winning the Middle East. An article published in the United States' First Defense pointed out that China took advantage of the power vacuum created after the United States retreated from the Middle East to economically woo Middle Eastern countries through the Belt and Road Initiative. However, this point of view still cannot get rid of the long-term hegemonic thinking of the United States, and the subjective perspective makes them can only make a superficial interpretation of China's actions. In fact, the word "win" does not apply to the Middle East. The countries of the Middle East are sovereign States and should not be regarded as the property of other States. The long-term US strategy in the Middle East is aimed at using Israel as a key pawn in balancing the countries of the Middle East and achieving the goal of dividing and disintegrating by stirring up contradictions among the countries of the Middle East. However, with the changes in the world political and economic situation, this US strategy will inevitably come to an end.
First, China's rapid rise poses a threat to the hegemony of the United States, which sees China as its main competitor and gradually shifts its global strategy to competition with China. At the same time, Syria has held out for more than a decade with the support of Russia, and the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan also highlights the weakening of US power. Against this background, Middle Eastern countries naturally want to establish friendly and cooperative relations with China. Second, a few years ago, the United States invested in the development of shale oil and shale gas extraction technology success, and the Gulf of Mexico and the United States also carried out large-scale oil extraction, making the United States from the world's largest oil importer to an oil exporter. On the one hand, this change has strengthened the energy security and economic interests of the United States, and on the other hand, it has also provided a bargaining chip for the United States to play a game with the Gulf oil countries. Faced with this situation, it is natural for the Gulf countries to seek other partners, and China, as the world's largest oil importer, has become an inevitable choice. In addition, China's industrial structure is complementary to that of the Middle East, and China has provided strong support to the Gulf countries through the Belt and Road Initiative in terms of infrastructure, 5G technology, and green energy development, which the United States does not have. Therefore, cooperation between Middle Eastern countries and China is not only in the interests of both sides, but also an inevitable trend.
In the face of changes in the diplomatic landscape of the Middle East, the United States launched a diplomatic struggle with China in 2023. However, the U.S. response did not work. At the beginning of 2023, China achieved a major breakthrough in normalizing relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran through years of mediation efforts. At the same time, China's relations with the GCC and the League of Arab States are warming, and the Belt and Road Initiative has made progress in almost all Middle Eastern countries. To counterbalance China's influence in the Middle East, the U.S. response was to mediate the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel and to support India to create the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor to counter China's Belt and Road Initiative. However, Israel's small size and India's relatively backward level of development doomed the US strategy to failure. What completely collapsed the US Middle East strategy was the "black swan event" that broke out at the end of 2023: the Palestinian Hamas forces launched an attack on Israel, and then all parties intervened, and the Middle East fell into chaos. This war caused great embarrassment to the United States. First, Israel's indiscriminate bombardment of the Gaza Strip has resulted in a large number of civilian deaths and triggered a serious humanitarian crisis. A growing number of countries are criticizing Israel's actions, which prevents the United States from fully supporting Israel. Secondly, the war has been going on for more than three months, the Israeli army has not succeeded in eliminating Hamas, and even northern Gaza has not been completely occupied, and the United States has no hope of withdrawing from this war. Third, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has spread, and the Houthis in Yemen, Iran and its supported armed forces, and the Lebanese Allah Party have taken action, and the US military is unable to respond. What is most painful to the United States is that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has completely stalled the process of normalizing relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. A few days ago, the Saudi foreign minister, after talks with China, said that if the Palestinian issue is resolved, Saudi Arabia will consider recognizing Israel, and that it is impossible to normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. Normalized Saudi-Israeli relations, which is key to the US-driven India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor plan, will come to naught. To sum up, the US Middle East strategy has completely failed.
The violent escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has disrupted the Middle East war of the United StatesFor this issue, I believe that China's development in the Middle East has indeed made certain achievements in recent years, and has been widely recognized by Middle Eastern countries. However, it may be exaggerated and one-sided to interpret it as "China is winning the Middle East". The Middle East is a complex geopolitical region with intricate interests and relationships between countries that should not be measured simply by winning or losing.
China's efforts to mediate and promote peace in the Middle East have been affirmed by Middle Eastern countries, which is related to China's Middle East policy and diplomatic stance. China has always pursued the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and advocated the settlement of international disputes and hotspot issues through political dialogue and diplomatic mediation, which is different from the intervention and military actions of some Western countries, so it has won the respect and recognition of Middle Eastern countries to a certain extent.
In addition, China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) also provides development opportunities for Middle Eastern countries. The Middle East is a resource-rich region, and China is the world's largest oil importer, and the two sides have strong economic complementarity. Through the promotion of the Belt and Road Initiative, China and Middle Eastern countries have strengthened cooperation in infrastructure construction, first-class cooperation, energy cooperation and other aspects, and have made positive contributions to the economic development of the Middle East.
However, it should be noted that there are still many contradictions and problems in the Middle East, and the solution of these problems requires the joint efforts of all parties, and it cannot simply be said that one country is winning. In addition, as an important intervener in the Middle East, the United States is still maintaining its influence in the region, and its strategic adjustment and intervention actions still have an important impact on the pattern of the Middle East.
Therefore, we should not be overly optimistic that China is winning the Middle East, nor can we exaggerate that the Middle East has long been an important focus of the global security situation and the strategic commanding heights of the world's major powers. For China, the Middle East is of great significance in terms of energy security, international image, and geopolitics. China has always been committed to promoting peace and stability in the Middle East and playing an active role in mediation and mediation.
First of all, in terms of energy security, the Middle East is the world's leading oil and gas destination. China is the world's largest importer of oil and the second largest importer of natural gas, and the Middle East is one of China's most important energy sources. China's energy cooperation with Middle Eastern countries has been reported countless times in the escalation of wars in the Greater Middle East.
In addition, the Middle East is also an important part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, and China actively promotes economic cooperation with Middle Eastern countries to help these countries achieve economic development in the fields of infrastructure construction, cooperation and production capacity cooperation. For example, China is actively involved in major infrastructure projects in the Middle East, such as railways in Iran and ports in Saudi Arabia. In addition, China has developed cooperation mechanisms with Iraq, Saudi Arabia and other countries to jointly build the Belt and Road Initiative to promote regional economic integration in the Middle East.
Finally, in terms of peace and stability, the Middle East has been a region of frequent conflicts. China has always advocated the handling of international disputes and hotspot issues through peaceful dialogue and political settlement, and has made positive efforts for peace and stability in the Middle East. China has participated in and promoted the Middle East peace process as a mediator and mediator on many occasions, and has played a positive role in peace and stability in the Middle East.
To sum up, the Middle East region is of great significance to China in terms of energy security, economic cooperation and geopolitics. China's development in the Middle East is still in its infancy, and it is impossible to simply say that China is winning the Middle East. However, the importance of the Middle East to China cannot be overlooked, and China has already played an active role in the region. China will continue to promote economic cooperation and peace processes with Middle Eastern countries in order to achieve common development and stability on both sides.
Follow me to get the latest and hottest information, so that you can keep up with the pace of the times and understand the latest trends! Every bit of yours, I will remember in my heart; I appreciate your words and deeds.