China’s is increasingly engaged with the broader Middle East region, and its engagement is no longer solely restricted to energy interests in the Arab Peninsula. It has growing connections with Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Israel for instance that go beyond the pursuit of resources. As a global economic and political power, China’s expanding engagement in an area of strategic interest to the US and other stakeholders has come into focus with recent political developments in the region, particularly Syria and Iran. Contributors to this special issue focus on Chinese policy and strategic interests in the region, the scale of its engagement from the perspective of individual nations and the broader strategic context of American interests. It will run from October 1-14.

Contributors:

Majid Rafizadeh is an Iranian-Syrian journalist, Senior Fellow at Harvard and President of the International American Council on Middle East (among many others). @majidrafizadeh

Sophie Roborgh is a strategic analyst focusing on political, social and security questions relating the Middle East.

Don Keyser is a retired U.S. State Department senior Foreign Service officer, and Senior Fellow in the China Policy Institute.

Samuel Chester is a grad student in the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University. @Shaihuludata

Selçuk Çolakoglu is Professor, Director of the USAK Center for Asia-Pacific Studies in Ankara and advisor to the Center for Strategic Research, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey

François Godement is Professor of political science at Sciences Po in Paris, Senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and non-resident Senior Associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

P. R. Kumaraswamy is ICCR Chair in Indian Studies at Victoria University, Wellington and Professor in the Centre for West Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Kendrick Kuo is a grad student in the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins and host of the China Pivots West podcast. @KendrickKuotes

Naser AL-Tamimi is a regular contributor to Al Arabiya’s News Channel and has recently published a book on China-Saudi Arabia Relations based on his PhD thesis. @nasertamimi

Twitter: #ChinaME @UoNCPI @jonlsullivan @michalthim