Sino-MENA relations have developed considerably in the last two decades. The MENA has become even more strategic to China since the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which aims to generate development, economic cooperation, and connectivity between regions. To achieve its BRI objectives, China has invested in oil production in MENA, from which it imports 50% of its oil, key seaports construction, and gigantic infrastructure projects.
China’s growing activities in the region, coupled with its strategic partnerships with most MENA states, are happening at a time of rising global tensions. The US-led liberal international order is undergoing a fundamental shift and being challenged by rising powers, leading to short-term volatility and creating long-term uncertainty. The COVID-19 pandemic could generate major socioeconomic, geopolitical, and security transformations, which will inevitably affect the MENA region and its relations with outside powers. While the US response to the pandemic has revealed serious internal shortcomings, China has responded swiftly to the pandemic and presented a competing governance model. Its health diplomacy in the region has enhanced its image in the MENA, while generating unreceptive responses from its US and EU rivals.
Within this context of uncertainty, this webinar will look at the longer-term relations that might ensue from this momentous period and will seek to answer questions regarding China’s role in the MENA. What have been China’s successes in the region? How will the region’s traditional partners, the US and Europe, react to China’s ambitions in the region? What kind of realignments, if any, might occur in the region? What kind of impact have China’s health and infrastructure diplomacy had in the MENA? Can China play a greater role in brokering peace deals to resolve conflicts in the region? Can foreign powers cooperate rather than compete in the socioeconomic and security developments of the region?
To answer these important questions, you are invited to a webinar organized by the Centre on Conflict, Development, and Peacebuilding (CCDP) of the Graduate Institute, Geneva.
The webinar is free and conducted in English.
Moderator: Keith Krause, Professor, International Relations/ Political Science (IHEID), Director, Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP)
Speakers:
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Yahia H. Zoubir, Senior Professor of International Studies and Director of Research in Geopolitics at KEDGE Business School, France and currently a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Doha Center.
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Emilie Tran, Assistant Professor, European Studies Programme Coordinator in the Department of Government and International Studies at the Hong Kong Baptist University.
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Guy Burton, Adjunct Professor of International Affairs at Vesalius College, Brussels.
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Chuchu Zhang, Associate Professor at School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University, China
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Xinyu Yuan, PhD Candidate in International Relations and Political Science at Graduate Institute of International Relations and Development Studies (IHEID), Geneva, and Research Assistant of Centre on Conflict, Development, and Peacebuilding (CCDP).