The Middle Eastern Security Dilemma and Its Impact on China’s Belt and Road Initiative

Peer-reviewed Article

The Middle Eastern Security Dilemma and Its Impact on China’s Belt and Road Initiative

YANG CHEN Asst. Prof. Department of History, Shanghai University

Yang Chen is Assistant Professor in the Department of History of Shanghai University’s College of Liberal Arts and Executive Director of the Center for Turkish Studies at Shanghai University. He has published two books about Turkey and several papers in journals such as World Religious Culture West Asia and Africa Arab World Research and China Social Science Today. His main areas of research are political Islamic movements in Turkey, party politics in Turkey, Turkey’s foreign policy, and China-Turkey relations.

ABSTRACT World peace cannot be attained without ensuring Middle Eastern security. This being so, the present article focuses on current security issues in this region, with special attention to the following questions: What is the current security situation in the Middle East? What are the causes of the security dilemma in the Middle East? What kind of negative impact may the Middle East security have on China’s Belt and Road Initiative? And what does China propose to resolve the security dilemma in the Middle East?

THE MIDDLE EAST IS A REGION ENDOWED Given the relevance of the Middle East for

with a strategic geographical location, rich natural world peace, this article focuses on current secu-

resources, areas of fertile land, and a vibrant civi- rity issues in this region, with special attention

lizational legacy. However, since the early 20th cen- to the following questions: What is the current

tury, this region has been center stage for political security situation in the Middle East? What are

violence and military confrontation. The severity the causes of the security dilemma in the Mid-

of Middle Eastern insecurity is perhaps incompa- dle East? What kind of negative impact may the

rable to any other region on the planet. One thing Middle East security have on China’s Belt and

is certain: world peace cannot be attained without Road Initiative? And what does China propose

ensuring Middle Eastern security. However, Middle to resolve the security dilemma in the Middle

Eastern peace requires not only the active engage- East?

ment of local populations, but also the concerted

efforts and wisdom of the international community. The Current Security Situation

On November 27–28, 2019, the Middle East in the Middle East

Security Forum, hosted by the China Institute of Middle Eastern politics were turbulent in the fi-

International Studies, opened in Beijing for two nal days of 2019. On December 27, China, Russia,

days with the theme “Security in the Middle East and Iran held a joint military exercise in the Gulf

under the New Situation: Challenges and Pros- of Oman. This was an unusual development: it

pects”. Nearly two hundred influential Chinese marked the first time in the 40 years since Iran’s

and foreign officials and scholars attended this Islamic Revolution in 1979 that these countries

conference to discuss solutions to hotspot is- had engaged in a joint military exercise. This

sues, negotiate over security cooperation plans, event, especially in the context of tightening U.S.

and seek for strategies of stable development. sanctions on Iran, was clearly intended to sup-

This was the first time that China had held a port Iran (Chenjing, 2019Chenjing (2019). The source article does not provide a separate full bibliographic entry for this citation.). On December 29, the

high-level forum on Middle Eastern affairs with U.S. military conducted a large-scale air attack on

“security” at the forefront. This demonstrates the 35th and 36th Brigade bases of Iraq’s pro-Iran

how China’s interest in Middle Eastern securi- Popular Mobilisation Force, killing more than 20

ty issues has recently widened, evolving from a Iraqi militiamen and triggering a popular demon-

merely economic perspective to a more compre- stration in front of the U.S. Embassy in Iraq (Hui,

hensive one that equally values economic and 2020). In the early morning of January 3, 2020,

security-driven issues (Boyi, 2020Boyi (2020). The source article does not provide a separate full bibliographic entry for this citation.). Major General Qasem Suleimani, commander

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with foreign guests attending the Middle East Security Forum in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 27, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Xiang)

of the Quds Brigade, affiliated with the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards, was assassinated These events signalled the beginning of a new round of by U.S. drones, which led to the escalation of the large-scale anti-Americanism in conflict between the United States and Iran (Shithe Middle East. After its defeat

chun, 2020). in Syria, it seems that the United

These events signalled the beginning of States is likely to lose in Iraq again.

a new round of large-scale anti-Americanism

in the Middle East. After its defeat in Syria, it voice. Even many Arab countries complained

seems that the United States is likely to lose in and criticized China, arguing that China chose

Iraq again. Although the above-mentioned inci- to continue to support the Assad government.

dents have exacerbated the conflict between the Eight years have passed now. Although the wars

United States and Iran, if thetimeline is extend- in Syria, Libya, and Yemen are still ongoing, they

ed, the security situation in the Middle East has cannot be regarded as purely civil conflicts: they

changed significantly since the Arab Spring in have evolved into proxy wars, which have also

2011. negatively affected the internal political and eco-

Indeed, the security situation in the Middle nomic security of these countries. At present, all

East is generally cooling down and is now con- parties are growing weary of these confronta-

trollable to a certain extent; resolving conflicts tions and are willing to seek to de-escalate the

through political means has become a trend. situation.

Since the beginning of the Arab Spring, China Among them, Iran is facing severe econom-

has proposed not to fight, but to solve issues po- ic difficulties due to extreme pressure from the

litically; but no one has paid attention to China’s United States, and domestic protests have repeat-

edly erupted. Saudi Arabia has caused strategic from the Middle East, it is still the most power-

overdrafts through its involvement in regional ful external power in Middle Eastern affairs: the

warfare, and the Jamal Khashoggi incident has withdrawal will be a long historical process. Rus-

negatively impacted on its international image. sia will continue to return to the Middle East,

Israel has fallen into persistent political rigidity but mainly at the tactical level; it does not fully

because of repeated domestic elections and fail- dominate the Middle East at the strategic level

ures to form a cabinet. Turkey has been playing due to its weak economy. For the foreseeable

a strong role and taking a tough stance on many future, “America is strong and Russia is weak”

issues such as oil and gas drilling in the Eastern is still the basic scenario in the Middle East

Mediterranean, the Syrian civil war, the Liby- (Zhongmin, 2020Zhongmin (2020). The source article does not provide a separate full bibliographic entry for this citation.).

an civil war, and the Qatar Crisis; but domestic Third, the status of regional powers in the

political and economic challenges have put tre- Middle East continues to rise; they will become

mendous pressure on the Erdogan government. important pieces on the Middle Eastern chess-

Meanwhile, the United States has no intention of board. Before the Arab Spring, the countries of

going to war with Iran; rather, it hopes to reap the region could not be fully independent, but

the benefits of intensifying the conflict between with the withdrawal of U.S. power, Iran, Saudi

Saudi Arabia and Iran. Therefore, all parties are Arabia, Turkey, and Israel have begun to challenge

willing to ease the situation. U.S. hegemony, although Egypt has been left be-

Second, the United States still dominates hind due to the coup d’état and economic decline.

the Middle East; it is still the most prominent The first four regional powers have played a great-

factor affecting the development of the situation er role in the hot issues in the Middle East, even

there. Those studying the current characteris- more so than the big global powers. They have be-

tics of the power game in the Middle East have gun to fill the power vacuum and compete for the

commented that the United States is reducing dominance of the regional order.

its strategic investment in the area, while Russia The eye of the Middle Eastern storm is Iran.

has increased its influence on the Syria issue and Since the Iraq war in 2003 and the Arab Spring

deepened its cooperation with regional powers. that began in 2010, Iran’s strength has increased

This opinion can be summarized as “the Unit- prominently. The rise of Iran will inevitably lead to

ed States withdraws and Russia moves forward”, confrontation with other countries in the region,

which evokes the beginning of a “post-American especially Saudi Arabia. The problem is, there is

era” (Long, 2020Long (2020). The source article does not provide a separate full bibliographic entry for this citation.). no single power that can unite all the countries in

The relative decline of global U.S. influence the Middle East. In the past, there were tradition-

is a fact (Gürcan, 2019Gürcan (2019). The source article does not provide a separate full bibliographic entry for this citation.; Gürcan, 2019/2020Gürcan (2019). The source article does not provide a separate full bibliographic entry for this citation.), but al Arab-nationalist powers like Egypt, Iraq, and

it should not be regarded too simplistically, es- Syria. But Iraq has now been brought down by

pecially in the Middle East. Frankly, the current war, Syria has been divided since 2011, and Egypt

US-Russian power competition in the Middle has been severely hit since the 2011 revolution.

East can be summed up as “U.S. retreating but Therefore, only Saudi Arabia can engage in blocs

not weak, Russia advancing but not strong”. Al- (Shaoxian, 2020Shaoxian (2020). The source article does not provide a separate full bibliographic entry for this citation.). The Middle East has returned

though the U.S. is making a strategic withdrawal to the chaos of a century ago.

Protesters try to set fire to the outside fence of the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, Iraq on Dec. 31, 2019. (Xinhua/Khalil Dawood)

Fourth, non-traditional security issues di Arabia. A drone attack on Saudi oilfields in

such as terrorism, refugees, energy, and cyber- September 2019 caused a 50% reduction in oil

attacks have become more prominent. To deal production, which further affected the world oil

with each of these issues in turn: the Middle market and energy security. We should attach

East is not only a victim of terrorism, but also great importance to this new trend.

a breeding ground. Although the Islamic State The Causes of the Security has been severely weakened in recent years, the Dilemma in the Middle East roots of the thoughts leading to terrorism have

not been eradicated, and returning jihadists re- Countries in the Middle East have few independ-

main a potential threat to all countries. The mil- ent political, economic, diplomatic, cultural, and

lions of refugees caused by the Palestinian-Israe- military resources to compete with the United

li conflict, the Syrian war, the Libyan war, and States; neither have they established an effective

the Yemen crisis have not only brought a severe collective security structure. Therefore, since

political and economic crisis to the Middle East, World War II, the United States has been the

but also put significant pressure on Europe and largest provider of security public goods for the

the world. As for energy security and cyberat- world generally and the Middle East particular-

tacks, the latest incidents have happened in Sau- ly. Countries in the Middle East rely on security

protection provided by the United States (Weiji- Arabia and Iran were established as “the police

an, 2019). The U.S. has established many military in the Gulf region”. This period ended with the

bases in many countries in the Middle East; has outbreak of the Iranian Islamic Revolution (Xin-

signed a large number of defense peace treaties; li and Xiaomin, 2001). In the second stage, from

and has conducted military personnel exchanges 1981 to 1990, the U.S. implemented the Strate-

and joint training, military intelligence sharing, gic Balancing strategy, aiming to curb Iran while

and military equipment provision in accordance weakening Iraqi forces during wars. In the third

with these peace treaties. This has allowed a great- stage, from 1991 to 2000, the United States im-

er degree of penetration of U.S. military force into plemented the Dual Containment strategy, con-

the countries of the Middle East. Especially in taining Iran and Iraq by imposing sanctions. In

the Gulf region, the United States has built a “Pax the fourth stage, from 2001 to 2009, the U.S. im-

Americana” under the auspices of its strength. plemented an anti-terrorism strategy to counter

The United States also provides protection terrorism through a democratic transformation

for the political systems of many states in the Mid- plan in the Middle East; thus it launched the Iraq

dle East. For example, the Gulf countries are oil war while maintaining sanctions on Iran.

producers, but at the same time the last remaining absolute monarchies in the world. Although the United States has always prided itself on being a defender of democracy, freedom, and human rights, and has always been keen on launching “democracy transformation” plans in the Middle East, it has never challenged or criticized the monarchic systems in the Gulf region. Instead, it has acted as their protector, thanks to the U.S. interest in benefiting from these countries’ large energy resources. Besides, these absolute monarchies are

much easier to control than other authoritarian Iraqi people in Baghdad protesting the United States’

the Middle East peace plan on January 31, 2020

countries because they are eager to maintain their (Xinhua / Khalil Dawood)

systems and in dire need of a great power guaran-

tee. Meanwhile, countries that are anti-American As a result, Iran and Iraq became the key

or fight for regional hegemony can easily become targets for the United States. However, during

the targets of U.S. containment and crackdown. the Obama administration (2009–2016), the

This can be seen clearly when looking at the his- previous containment policy was replaced by

tory of U.S. Gulf policy. seeking change through contact rather than iso-

U.S. Gulf policy prior to the Trump presi- lation. Guided by this policy, the U.S. reached a

dency can be divided into five phases. In the first nuclear agreement with Iran and sought to with-

phase, from 1969 to 1979, the U.S. implemented draw from Iraq, showing that the U.S. was no

the Twin Pillar strategy. Its main strategic goals longer concerned about those issues not vital for

were to curb Soviet influence in the Middle East its own interests. One reason for this was the U.S.

and ensure the supply of oil. Therefore, Saudi shale gas revolution, which reduced demand for

Middle Eastern oil, so that the US’s energy inter- and other countries have not publicly named the

ests in the Middle East began to decline (Jikang, attackers, and have not rashly accused Iran of

2019). Another reason was that the United States being behind the scenes. This shows that Saudi

was trapped in the quagmire of the Iraq war for Arabia hopes to reduce the internal and external

more than a decade; it urgently needed to with- shocks caused by this event (Huanyu, 2019Huanyu (2019). The source article does not provide a separate full bibliographic entry for this citation.).

draw, and then to seek strategic rebalancing to However, there are doubts over the inci-

curb its rivals in Asia, particularly China. dent. Although the Houthi armed forces have

After Donald Trump took office, he revised repeatedly launched drone attacks on Saudi Ara-

Obama’s Middle East policy. First, he gave full bia, this time the technology involved was more

support to Israel, for example by announcing advanced than ever before, causing all parties to

the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, wonder whether the Houthis have such weapon-

relocating the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Je- ry. In addition, the United States is responsible

rusalem, declaring the Golan Heights as Israeli for the Saudi air defense system, so how could

territory, launching the “Peace to Prosperity” unmanned aerial vehicles penetrate these de-

plan, and reducing the Palestinian-Israeli ques- fenses and launch attacks without any warning?

tion to an economic issue; all these moves have One can imagine how big the Saudis’ air defense

been widely criticized in Palestine and the Arab loophole must be.

world (Jin, 2019Jin (2019). The source article does not provide a separate full bibliographic entry for this citation.). Second, he set out to unite al- The incident further exacerbated Saudi

lies but with an “America first” philosophy, so concerns over Iran’s military power. An impor-

that allies had to bear the cost of combating se- tant part of Iran’s military policy is the devel-

curity issues such as terrorism and extremism. opment of the Rocket Army. Iran has achieved

Third, Iran became the main target. Thanks to medium-range missile capability, albeit at the

Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agree- expense of developing its Air Force. If Iran’s mis-

ment, resumption of the containment strategy, sile technology continues to develop, its regional

and treatment of Iran as the United States’ big- influence and threat will continue to increase,

gest enemy in the Middle East, the previously which will pose a security risk to Israel and Sau-

ameliorating Middle East security situation has di Arabia. By then, the important military tar-

become sharply worse. gets of both countries will be within the range of

Take, for example, the Saudi oilfield attack. Iranian missiles. Considering this, Saudi Arabia

On September 14, 2019, several drones attacked is bound to become more reliant on U.S. security

two of the Saudi Arabian National Petroleum protection.

Corporation’s oil facilities. Subsequently, Saudi Therefore, the current security situation is

Arabia announced that it would cut its oil pro- causing a dilemma for Middle Eastern states. In

duction by half, reducing its output by 5.7 mil- the past, they could rely on the United States, but

lion barrels per day, causing an increase in world that is no longer the case. At the same time, no

oil prices. The Yemeni Houthi armed forces have new alternative force can replace the U.S. in pro-

claimed responsibility for this incident. The viding a security structure, and Arab countries

United States believes that Iran was responsible cannot establish a collective security mechanism

for the attack, but Saudi Arabia, the United King- for three reasons. First, there are multiple layers of

dom, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, overlapping competitive relationships in the Mid-

dle East: between large foreign countries (main- 2019/2020; Koray, 2019/2020; Tutan, 2019/2020;

ly the United States and Russia), Arab countries Yi, 2019/2020), the political, economic, cultural,

and non-Arab countries in the region, the Arab/ and diplomatic relations between the Middle East

Islamic world and Israel, Islamic Sunnis and Shi- and China have become increasingly close. If the

ites, inter-Arab conflicts, and so on. Second, there Middle East is unstable, unsafe, and unsustaina-

are many alliances. For example, there is the U.S.- ble for a long period of time, it will also be difficult

led “Middle East Strategic Alliance” against Iran. to advance the Belt and Road Initiative smoothly.

In the Syrian civil war, Russia and Iran support government forces while the United States, Tur- The Belt and Road Initiative cannot

key, and Saudi Arabia support the opposition; in bypass the Middle East, which

the political process of resolving the Syria crisis, is full of security challenges and

a confrontational pattern formed between the risks. First, terrorism is the public

two camps of Russia, Turkey, and Syria on one enemy of humankind, and is

side, and the United States, Saudi Arabia, and extremely serious in the Middle

Egypt on the other. Within the Gulf Coopera- East; therefore, to combat terrorism

tion Council (GCC), Qatar was isolated by the and obtain the moral high ground,

other members; in the Eastern Mediterranean China must clearly demonstrate its

oil and gas project, Turkey and Libya are on one attitude.

side, while Southern Cyprus, Israel, and Egypt The security situation in the Middle East are on the other. The third and most fundamenwill have an impact on China’s various interests. tal reason is that the century-old structure of the First, energy security. More than 50% of China’s Middle East is collapsing, and the original geo-

political balance is being destroyed; Arab states oil is imported from the Middle East. After the

such as Iraq, Syria, and Yemen are weakening, United States withdrew from the nuclear agree-

but non- Arab countries are becoming stronger ment with Iran, it put maximum pressure on

and more nationalist. This makes it more diffi- the country. One goal was to reduce Iran’s oil

cult to establish a security structure that can be exports to zero; this has caused huge damage

agreed upon by all parties. It can be said that if to the interests of China, Europe, India, Japan,

Iran and Saudi Arabia are not reconciled, peace and other countries (Hongda, 2019Hongda (2019). The source article does not provide a separate full bibliographic entry for this citation.). The safety

in the Middle East will be difficult to achieve. of the passage of the Strait of Hormuz also has

a significant impact on China’s energy security, The Impact of Middle East

Security Issues on China’s and is also an important consideration for the

Belt and Road Initiative joint military exercises between China, Russia,

and Iran. In addition, the attack on the Saudi In the past, due to geographical distance and the oilfield caused oil production to be abruptly cut complexity of the situation in the region, China

did not pay enough attention to this area and the by more than half, producing fluctuations in the

Middle East was not so important for China’s global oil market and setting off alarm bells for

foreign policy. However, in the new millennium, China’s energy reserves.

and especially since the beginning of the Belt Second, security against terrorism. The Belt

and Road Initiative (Chen, 2019/2020; Gökçay, and Road Initiative cannot bypass the Middle

East, which is full of security challenges and and laid the foundation for China’s accession to

risks. First, terrorism is the public enemy of hu- the WTO. For the next decade, China once again

mankind, and is extremely serious in the Mid- experienced a period of strategic opportunities.

dle East; therefore, to combat terrorism and ob- Since then, both the Obama and the Trump ad-

tain the moral high ground, China must clearly ministrations have hoped to withdraw from the

demonstrate its attitude. Second, on the Syrian Middle East and deal with China, but the dete-

battlefield, there are various East Turkistan ter- rioration of the security situation will continue

rorist organizations that have posted videos call- to plunge the United States into the Middle East;

ing for a small jihad against China. Once these this will be beneficial for China’s further devel-

jihadists and terrorists return to China, they will opment.

endanger the security of the western region and

indeed the whole country. Third, China already China’s Approach to Solving

has a lot of practice and experience in coun- Middle Eastern Security Issues

terterrorism and anti-extremism, and urgently

needs the support and affirmation of the Middle At the Middle East Security Forum, many Mid-

East countries. dle Eastern leaders and scholars called on Chi-

Third, economic security. China has a large na to strengthen its political, economic, and

number of investments, enterprises and person- military presence in the Middle East. There are

nel in the Middle East. There are 200,000 Chi- indeed many security problems in the Middle

nese in Dubai alone. China has invested in the East, but China is also a newcomer to the region.

Iraqi oil industry, built industrial parks in Egypt, China does not have the strength to maintain

and taken part in reconstruction in Syria. The the stability of the entire Middle East. If the area

deteriorating security situation may cause huge falls into a vortex, China can only work with

economic losses. For example, in 2011, with- other countries to stop the appearance of larg-

drawing Chinese nationals from Libya caused er-scale turmoil, crack down on radical religious

tens of billions of yuans to China. From this, Chi- forces, and maintain the stability of individual

na has learned the lesson that only a stable Middle countries (Jisi, 2016Jisi (2016). The source article does not provide a separate full bibliographic entry for this citation.).

East can help protect its overseas interests.

Fourth, strategic security. Although in the China has been working hard to

past, the Middle East was not given sufficient contribute to security and stability

weight in China’s overall diplomatic strategic in the Middle East, in accordance

layout, the impact of geopolitical changes in the with UN resolutions and the wishes

Middle East has global significance. For exam- of local countries.

ple, the Gulf crisis and Gulf War of 1990–91 pre-

vented the United States from comprehensively However, since the Belt and Road Initia-

containing China and eased strategic pressure tive began, China has increased its involvement

on China after the collapse of the Soviet Union in security issues in the Middle East. China has

and the dramatic changes in Eastern Europe. been working hard to contribute to security and

The 9/11 incident in 2001 again disrupted the stability in the Middle East, in accordance with

U.S. siege of China, resolved the deterioration of UN resolutions and the wishes of local countries.

the relationship caused by the China-US plane For example, China has sent 1,800 peace-

collision incident in April 2001, opened the Si- keepers to the Middle East, spreading across all

no-US cooperative anti-terrorism mechanism, countries in the region. China has insisted on

escorting all ships in the Gulf of Aden for more promote economic development through political

than ten years. China has also held a Middle East change, but countries such as Libya, Syria, and Yem-

Security Forum with Middle Eastern countries, en descended into war. Not only did political change

proposing to get rid of the old Cold War mental- fail, but also economic development did not acquire

ity and explore the creation of a common, com- a safe environment, which is a great irony.

prehensive, cooperative, and sustainable new se- Among the oil-producing countries, Saudi

curity concept as an approach to solving Middle Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, and others face sluggish

Eastern security issues (FMPRC, 2020FMPRC (2020). The source article does not provide a separate full bibliographic entry for this citation.). oil prices and increasing fiscal deficits. Moreo-

Wang Yi has said that common security ver, Iran is subject to sanctions, and its econom-

is to ensure the security of all countries; not to ic development has encountered great obstacles,

build the security of one country on the insecu- which has led to constant domestic opposition

rity of others, let alone to seek unilateral abso- and protests. All this shows that economic in-

lute security. Comprehensive security means not stability is an important cause of political inse-

only seeking military security, but also achieving curity. So, who can provide the driving force for

political stability and social tranquility. Coop- economic development in the Middle East? Ob-

erative security is to achieve security through viously, compared with western countries’ em-

political dialogue and multilateral cooperation, phasis on political and security interests, China’s

not to impose it unilaterally through military concept of attaching importance to economic

intervention. Sustainable security is to attach development is more operable and attractive. In

equal importance to security and development, particular, the Belt and Road Initiative is a public

and provide support for security through devel- product launched by China that can contribute

opment, so that security has an endogenous mo- to the economy and security of the Middle East.

tivation and will not be a flash in the pan (FM- Second, China should continue to increase

PRC, 2019). its efforts to promote peace talks and contribute

China’s wisdom and strength to solving hotspot

The original intention of the Arab issues in the Middle East. China is developing

Spring was to promote economic good relations with all countries in the Middle

development through political East, without discriminating between Arab and

change, but countries such as Libya, non-Arab countries, Islamic and non-Islamic

Syria, and Yemen descended into countries, or Sunni and Shiite countries. This has

war. Not only did political change laid a solid foundation for China to provide pro-

fail, but also economic development posals or even solutions accepted by all parties to

did not acquire a safe environment, resolve the hot issues in this region, such as the

which is a great irony. Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Syrian crisis, and

the Iranian nuclear controversy. In the future,

To this end, first, China should continue to China’s position on these issues will be clearer

strengthen economic exchanges with the Mid- and firmer, insisting on solving these problems

dle East, promote economic development in the through political consultation rather than mili-

Middle East, and promote security through fast tary means, and using multilateralist principles

development. At present, the countries of the re- instead of unilateral action (Sheng, 2019Sheng (2019). The source article does not provide a separate full bibliographic entry for this citation.).

gion, both non-oil-producing and oil-producing, Third, China should strengthen security

are facing severe economic development issues. cooperation in the Middle East. This includes

The original intention of the Arab Spring was to two aspects, the first being deepening security

cooperation with Middle Eastern countries. Just respective national interests, there will always

as President Xi Jinping has put forward, China be points of interaction between the interests

will follow the “Three Principles” of “No agent, of major powers, which will form the basis for

no sphere of influence, and no attempt to fill the cooperation among them (Qi and Wenji, 2018Qi and Wenji (2018). The source article does not provide a separate full bibliographic entry for this citation.).

vacuum.” Therefore, the international community urgent-

This pledge has won unanimous and wide ly needs to make a concerted effort to restruc-

praise from Middle Eastern countries, and has ture the balance of power in the Middle East.

become China’s most important political ad- Fortunately, since the changes of 2011, com-

vantage and strategic asset in strengthening se- pared with other big powers, China is the only

curity cooperation with the Middle East. China country that has not made strategic mistakes

has also put these principles into action. For in the Middle East. Even though the Middle

example, in recent years, the Chinese Navy has East is full of dangers and faces many security

participated in normalized escorts in the Gulf of issues, China still has to unswervingly promote

Aden, and has conducted anti-terrorism securi- the smooth progress of the Belt and Road Ini-

ty consultations with countries in many regions. tiative. Of course, this is not to say that China

When President Xi visited the region in 2016, he has already exerted great influence in the Middle

announced the provision of U.S.$300 million in East. In fact, China’s role may not even be that

assistance for law enforcement cooperation, po- of a small player, and increasing its influence in

lice training, and other projects, to help regional the Middle East will be a long and slow process.

countries strengthen capacity building (CCTV, However, the elements of China’s Belt and Road

2016). China has also established a permanent Initiative are not separate from each other, but

military base in Djibouti. This is, on the one form a tightly integrated whole. It is a bond that

hand, a natural process by which China’s influ- links Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Central

ence is gradually increasing; on the other, it is a Asia, and is also a public good provided by Chi-

concrete manifestation of China’s increasing role na to the world. Since the Middle East is at the

in regional security affairs. heart of the world, a peaceful, stable, and devel-

Another aspect includes security coopera- oping Middle East can contribute to the conti-

tion with other big powers. The adjustment of nuity and realization of the entire initiative, the

U.S. Middle East policy is the biggest variable connectivity of Eurasia, and to interaction and

affecting the development of the regional situ- exchange between human civilizations.

ation. Of late, the United States has continually Acknowledgements: This article is sup-

accused China of piggybacking on U.S. security ported by funding from the “Shanghai Philoso-

protection in the Middle East, and has started to phy and Social Science Planning Youth Project”

assign more security responsibilities to China. (2017EGJ004), “Key Project of Philosophy and

Chaos in the Middle East may remain the norm. Social Sciences of Ministry of Education of Chi-

However, uncontrollable disorder in the Middle na” (17JZD036) and “Key Project of the National

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