China in Middle East Security: Between Diplomacy and Military
Francisco Javier Montilla Aguilera was selected among the ten shortlisted essays to be published on Asia Centre’s website, following his submission to the Asia Centre Essay Challenge first edition “China Geopolitics”.
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Assertive rise and China’s new diplomacy
China’s foreign path since 2012, led by Xi Jinping, represents a watershed moment. Stable economic growth over decades provided the stage that allowed the country to assume a much more central and active role in the world, not only economically but also internationally in politics and security, as proof of its undisputed superpower status. Xi Jinping has been the architect of a much more aggressive foreign policy that consciously breaks with Deng Xiaoping’s and his successors’ “peaceful rise” doctrine, which preached domestically focused growth and strategic restraint abroad. This new generation is marked by a hard Chinese insistence on claiming what it believes to be its rightful place in world affairs, an ambition which sometimes expresses itself in so-called “wolf-warrior diplomacy”: a more assertive, nationalist, and reactive foreign policy in reaction to foreign denunciation or pressure, especially from the West.
China’s contemporary diplomatic approach is built on some pillars: the active pushing of negotiation and dialogue as a tool for conflict settlement, large-scale economic investment as a tool of influence (as epitomized by the ambitious Belt and Road Initiative – BRI), and energetic diplomacy dedicated to protecting its national interests. As a global power with interests that reach across the globe, China has extended its security interest beyond its immediate neighbourhood, increasingly looking to strategic regions such as the Middle East. Rich in energy resources and strategically located, this region is seen by Beijing as falling within its ‘greater periphery’, a region whose stability is critical to China’s own security and prosperity.
While Sino-East relations were classically defined by the economic dimension (China as the major oil and gas consumer), Beijing’s involvement has exponentially diversified and intensified in the last few years. China proactively tries to portray itself as a “peace provider” and stability component, offering an alternative option to Western interventionism. The recent dramatic reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas, their arch-nemesis Palestinian rivals, brokered in July 2024 with Beijing’s auspices, is a prime example: a policy of steady patience committed to mediation, open talk and the pursuit of negotiated political settlements.
Summary
- The Middle East through Chinese eyes: the strategic “Greater Periphery” and the Global Security vision
- China after 7 October: balancing diplomacy and mediation
- China in Iran-Saudi relations: architect of the standoff
- Other Mediation Functions and Stabilisation Activities
- From diplomacy to the military: a twofold and cautious strategy
- A unified actor, a different model and lasting challenges.
Illustration : Khamenei.ir: The President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, and his accompanying delegation met with the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ali Khamenei, 23 January 2016 Link : https://farsi.khamenei.ir/photo-album?id=32058 Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
China in Middle East Security: Between Diplomacy and Military: