{"id":33202,"date":"2017-07-31T13:13:31","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T03:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=33202"},"modified":"2017-07-31T13:13:31","modified_gmt":"2017-07-31T03:13:31","slug":"china-card-middle-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/china-card-middle-east\/","title":{"rendered":"A China card for the Middle East"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

The list of crises plaguing the Middle East is growing. In Yemen, a civil war rages amid an uncontrollable cholera epidemic<\/a>. In Jerusalem, religious violence is intensifying<\/a>, while in parts of Iraq and Syria, sectarian warfare shows no signs of abating. Most ominously, a new level of antagonism between Saudi Arabia and Iran suggests that a direct confrontation between the leading powers of Sunni and Shia Islam is no longer out of the question<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Just when the region needs the steady hand of international leadership most, none of the usual actors is strong enough, or committed enough, to engage effectively. What the region requires is a new framework for diplomacy\u2014one with the strong backing of a new mediator: China.<\/p>\n

By exporting terrorism and religiously inspired extremism, the Middle East has become \u2018global\u2019 in the most negative sense. But while much attention has been focused on addressing what France\u2019s former finance minister, Michel Sapin, once called the \u2018unhappy<\/a>\u2019 side of globalisation\u2014such as unemployment and income inequality\u2014too little has been done to contain the spread of extremist violence or address its causes. Many diplomatic formulas have been tried, but progress remains elusive.<\/p>\n

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Europe endured horrific religious wars, but Christendom was mostly united when it began to confront the threat posed by an expanding Ottoman Empire. In the nineteenth century, the delicate balance of power between European powers and the crumbling Ottoman fringe gave rise to the \u2018Eastern Question\u2019. Ultimately, the Ottoman Empire\u2019s demise fueled conflict in the Balkans and sowed rivalries that led to World War I.<\/p>\n

Today, too, mainly European, or Western, approaches to ensuring stability in the Middle East no longer work. As a top European diplomat told me recently, the Middle East crisis is in desperate need of fresh thinking and new leadership. One idea he offered was a \u2018Helsinki\u2019-inspired solution, drawing on a diverse collection of countries to address a common, if regionally focused, problem.<\/p>\n

My interlocutor\u2019s suggestion was original, and potentially game-changing. In 1975, in Helsinki, Finland, a mechanism was created to reduce tensions and enable dialogue between the United States and the Soviet Union, the two Cold War superpowers. The resulting Helsinki Accords, which placed an emphasis on sovereignty and territorial integrity, represented a significant step towards strategic de-escalation. For some analysts, the accords, which received broad European and Western support, initiated the end of the Cold War (which the Soviet Union, of course, survived with neither its sovereignty nor its territorial integrity).<\/p>\n

The geopolitical map has changed significantly since 1975, but the underlying premise of the Helsinki process\u2014mutual respect built on global consensus\u2014is no less relevant today. Unfortunately, neither the US nor Europe appears to be in a position to implement such an approach for the Middle East. That, in my view, leaves an opening for China, the world\u2019s most important rising power, to engage in a formal and meaningful way.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s engagement would be a significant departure from its past policy. During much of China\u2019s reform period, the country\u2019s leadership emphasised domestic priorities and kept a low profile internationally. But in recent years, China has been more willing to play a larger global role, reflected in its leadership on climate change<\/a> and its efforts to mediate between Sudan and South Sudan<\/a>. In 2015, when France launched an ultimately unsuccessful bid to restart the Israeli\u2013Palestinian peace process, China was among the initiative\u2019s most enthusiastic supporters.<\/p>\n

Involving China in Middle East diplomacy makes sense politically, but it could also make sense culturally and historically. China faces fewer security vulnerabilities from the Middle East (except on matters of energy) than Europe does, and it has no imperial legacy in the region\u2014and thus none of the emotional baggage of the colonial past. Moreover, the Chinese have not sided with Saudi Arabia, like the United States has under President Donald Trump, or with the Iranians, like Russia has under President Vladimir Putin. And China has none of the guilt that Europeans have over their historic mistreatment of both Arabs and Jews.<\/p>\n

Of course, China may resist exposing itself to the pitfalls of Middle East diplomacy. China remains committed, at least rhetorically, to a policy of non-interference, and its citizens may be unenthusiastic. In Beijing last year, I was told by a Chinese foreign-policy expert that the country\u2019s reluctance to interfere in other countries\u2019 internal affairs partly reflects the legacy of the one-child policy<\/a> that was enforced for more than three decades. Why would Chinese parents risk the life of their only child for the sake of faraway countries that pose no threat to China?<\/p>\n

Yet, within the context of more broad-based international engagement, akin to the Helsinki process, China might actually be in the best position to help bring about long-term stability the Middle East. Given the collective failures of the usual actors, a new cast could surely do no worse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The list of crises plaguing the Middle East is growing. In Yemen, a civil war rages amid an uncontrollable cholera epidemic. In Jerusalem, religious violence is intensifying, while in parts of Iraq and Syria, sectarian …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":474,"featured_media":33206,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[52,599,346,218],"class_list":["post-33202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-china","tag-cold-war","tag-leadership","tag-middle-east"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA China card for the Middle East | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/china-card-middle-east\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A China card for the Middle East | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The list of crises plaguing the Middle East is growing. In Yemen, a civil war rages amid an uncontrollable cholera epidemic. In Jerusalem, religious violence is intensifying, while in parts of Iraq and Syria, sectarian ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/china-card-middle-east\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-07-31T03:13:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/2241743212_87dde83465_z.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dominique Moisi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dominique Moisi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/china-card-middle-east\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/2241743212_87dde83465_z.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/2241743212_87dde83465_z.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":480},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/china-card-middle-east\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/china-card-middle-east\/\",\"name\":\"A China card for the Middle East | The Strategist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/china-card-middle-east\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-07-31T03:13:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-07-31T03:13:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/3b50d4867dd04b3ae3a09bf0a62dc7f3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/china-card-middle-east\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/china-card-middle-east\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/china-card-middle-east\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A China card for the Middle East\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/3b50d4867dd04b3ae3a09bf0a62dc7f3\",\"name\":\"Dominique Moisi\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2e0a1b0161c581d79d087794b2b5adb0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2e0a1b0161c581d79d087794b2b5adb0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dominique Moisi\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/dominique-moisi\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A China card for the Middle East | The Strategist","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/china-card-middle-east\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A China card for the Middle East | The Strategist","og_description":"The list of crises plaguing the Middle East is growing. In Yemen, a civil war rages amid an uncontrollable cholera epidemic. In Jerusalem, religious violence is intensifying, while in parts of Iraq and Syria, sectarian ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/china-card-middle-east\/","og_site_name":"The Strategist","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org","article_published_time":"2017-07-31T03:13:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":480,"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/2241743212_87dde83465_z.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dominique Moisi","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ASPI_org","twitter_site":"@ASPI_org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dominique Moisi","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/","name":"The Strategist","description":"ASPI's analysis and commentary site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/china-card-middle-east\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/2241743212_87dde83465_z.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/2241743212_87dde83465_z.jpg","width":640,"height":480},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/china-card-middle-east\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/china-card-middle-east\/","name":"A China card for the Middle East | The Strategist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/china-card-middle-east\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2017-07-31T03:13:31+00:00","dateModified":"2017-07-31T03:13:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/3b50d4867dd04b3ae3a09bf0a62dc7f3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/china-card-middle-east\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/china-card-middle-east\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/china-card-middle-east\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A China card for the Middle East"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/3b50d4867dd04b3ae3a09bf0a62dc7f3","name":"Dominique Moisi","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2e0a1b0161c581d79d087794b2b5adb0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2e0a1b0161c581d79d087794b2b5adb0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dominique Moisi"},"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/dominique-moisi\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33202"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/474"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33202"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33209,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33202\/revisions\/33209"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}