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Chinese Investments in the Arab Maelstrom

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Abstract

China’s increasingly significant economic and security interests in the Middle East have several impacts. They affect not only its energy security but also its regional posture, relations with regional powers as well as the United States and efforts to pacify nationalist and Islamist Uighurs in its northwestern region of Xinjiang. Those interests are considerably enhanced by China’s One Belt, One Road initiative that seeks to patch together a Eurasian land mass through inter-linked infrastructure, investment and expanded trade relations. Protecting its mushrooming interests is forcing China to realign its policies and relationships in the region.

Dr. James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, co-director of the University of Würzburg’s Institute for Fan Culture, and the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer blog, a book with the same title, Comparative Political Transitions between Southeast Asia and the Middle East and North Africa , co-authored with Dr. Teresita Cruz-Del Rosario and Shifting Sands, Essays on Sports and Politics in the Middle East and North Africa .

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Notes

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  6. 6.

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  14. 14.

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  26. 26.

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  29. 29.

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  30. 30.

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  31. 31.

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  33. 33.

    Ibid., Chen.

  34. 34.

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  35. 35.

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  36. 36.

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  40. 40.

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  41. 41.

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  42. 42.

    Pakistan Defence, China’s Military Railway Transport, 24 June 2010, http://defence.pk/threads/china%C2%92s-military-railway-transport.62935/.

  43. 43.

    John McLaughlin, The Great Powers in the New Middle East in John B. Alterman (ed), Rocky Harbours: Taking Stock of the Middle East in 2015, Washington: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2015.

  44. 44.

    The State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China, China’s Military Strategy, May 2015, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2015-05/26/content_20820628.htm.

  45. 45.

    John Calabrese, Fate of the Dragon in the Year of the Red Fire Monkey: China and the Middle East 2016, Middle East Institute, 3 February 2016, http://www.mei.edu/content/map/fate-dragon-year-monkey-china-and-middle-east-2016.

  46. 46.

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  47. 47.

    Xinhua, Full Text: China’s Military Strategy, 26 May 2015, http://en.people.cn/n/2015/0526/c90785-8897779-7.html.

  48. 48.

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  49. 49.

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  50. 50.

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  51. 51.

    Arab News, Uighurs, 24 March 2002.

  52. 52.

    Martin Harrison, Relations between the Gulf Oil Monarchies and the People’s Republic of China, 1971–2005, Lancaster University, Unpublished PhD thesis, 2006.

  53. 53.

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  54. 54.

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  56. 56.

    Agence France Press, First ‘Silk Road’ train arrives in Tehran from China, 16 February 2016, https://news.yahoo.com/first-silk-road-train-arrives-tehran-china-134703954.html?soc_src=mail&soc_trk=ma.

  57. 57.

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  58. 58.

    Shannon Tiezzi (6 June 2014). In South Sudan Conflict, China Tests Its Mediation Skills, The Diplomat, http://thediplomat.com/2014/06/in-south-sudan-conflict-china-tests-its-mediation-skills/.

  59. 59.

    Xinhua, China announces new proposal on Syria, 31 October 2012, http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-10/31/c_131942913.htm.

  60. 60.

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  61. 61.

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  62. 62.

    Ibid., Fardella.

  63. 63.

    Andrew Small (26 March 2015). Chinese Foreign Policy Comes of Age, The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/27/opinion/chinese-foreign-policy-comes-of-age.html?_r=2.

  64. 64.

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  65. 65.

    Pan Guang, Keynote Speech at International Conference on China in the Middle East, Indiana University and Peking University, Beijing, 17–18 March 2015.

  66. 66.

    Ibid., Pan Guang.

  67. 67.

    Edward Wong, Taliban and Afghan Peace Officials Have Secret Talks in China, The New York Times, 26 May 2015, www.nytimes.com/world/taliban-and-afghan-peace-officials-have-secret-talks-in-china.html.

  68. 68.

    Li Jing, China stands by Afghanistan, China daily, 28 September 2015, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2015xivisitus/2015-09/28/content_22000357.htm.

  69. 69.

    Foreign Ministry of the People’s Republic of China, Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Kabul to begin a visit to Afghanistan, 22 February 2014, http://www.gov.cn/gzdt/2014-02/22/content_2619024.htm.

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Dorsey, J.M. (2018). Chinese Investments in the Arab Maelstrom. In: Arduino, A., Gong, X. (eds) Securing the Belt and Road Initiative. Palgrave, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7116-4_13

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