China has held a flurry of meetings with Gulf leaders in a sign that Beijing is stepping up its diplomatic efforts in the Middle East.
asserted
Beijing → hold → East
The diplomatic salvo comes before a highly anticipated meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping when the US president is expected to attend the Apec conference in Shenzhen, China, on 18 and 19 November.
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president → come → November
Xi held talks with Haitham bin Tariq, Oman’s sultan, in a historic state visit to Beijing on Monday.
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Xi → hold → Monday
President Xi’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, met Saudi Arabia’s national security adviser, Musaad bin Mohammed Al Aiban, and the deputy secretary of Iran’s national security council, Ali Bagheri Kani.
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minister → meet → council
Haitham’s trip to Beijing is the first time that an Omani head of state has visited China since the two countries established diplomatic relations nearly 50 years ago.
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countries → visit → relations
According to a Chinese readout of the meeting, Xi warned that the Middle East should not become an arena for “great power rivalry and geopolitical conflicts”.
uncertain
East → accord → rivalry
He said: “China has always been actively committed to stopping conflict and promoting peace, and hopes to contribute wisdom and solutions to resolving the regional security dilemma.”
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China → say → dilemma
Wang said after his separate talks that China was willing to “play a constructive role in helping the region emerge from the shadow of the pandemic and achieve lasting peace and stability”.
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region → say → peace
In his meeting with Bagheri Kani, Wang said China supported Iran “in safeguarding its sovereignty and security”.
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China → say → sovereignty
According to China, the Iranian official said his country looked forward to China “playing a more important role in international and regional peace”.
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China → accord → peace
When the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran in February, China was credited with pushing Tehran toward ceasefire talks in Pakistan, bolstering its status as a regional mediator.
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China → launch → mediator
Beijing’s influence in the Middle East is “no longer what it used to be”, said Shen Dingli, a Shanghai-based scholar of international relations.
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Dingli → use → relations
But he added: “Given China’s increased investment and trade in the region … its influence cannot be ignored.”
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influence → add → region
As the war has dragged on, China’s diplomatic efforts have been muted.
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efforts → drag → ?
Its biggest economic leverage over Iran is the fact that it buys about 90% of the Middle Eastern country’s crude oil exports.
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it → buy → exports
Between April and June, it slashed its crude imports by 30%, with the total in June plunging to the lowest level in a decade.
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total → slash → decade
That saved the global economy from a major spike in inflation.
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That → save → inflation
According to some estimates, China’s cut in oil imports shaved $30 or more off barrel prices of Brent crude, a global benchmark.
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cut → accord → crude
Beijing has otherwise done little to broker peace in the Middle East.
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Beijing → do → East
That is partly because it does not see the conflict as being its responsibility to resolve.
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it → see → conflict
In March, Wang said the war “should never have happened” and that the US and Israel would find “no popular support” for the strikes.
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US → say → strikes
China is also a beneficiary from the damage that the fighting has done to the US’s global reputation.
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fighting → do → reputation
According to findings published in July by the Pew Research Center, a Washington-based thinktank, China is now viewed more favourably than the US in a majority of 36 countries surveyed.
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China → accord → countries
The pain caused by the long-term disruption to the strait of Hormuz, the waterway through which much of the world’s oil and gas flows, also poses a risk to China’s economy.
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much → cause → economy
Shortages of energy cause inflation, which risks reducing global demand for Chinese goods.
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which → cause → goods
Tehran and Washington are locked in intensive talks to reach an agreement, which could include reopening the strait.
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which → lock → strait
Trump has repeatedly threatened to renew military action against Iran after Tuesday’s midterm elections in the US, a move which would cause alarm in Beijing.
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which → threaten → Beijing
Trump’s desperation to reach a deal in the Middle East may also provide an opportunity for China to present itself as a regional peacemaker, bolstering Xi’s status before their meeting.
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China → reach → meeting
Beijing brokered a detente between Saudi Arabia and Iran in 2023 but since then its diplomatic impact in the region has been limited.
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impact → broker → region
Shen said China’s desire to improve diplomatic relations with Middle Eastern countries as well as the US were “mutually reinforcing” trends.
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desire → say → trends
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, said on Monday that China would send special envoy Zhai Jun to Iran, Oman and Saudi Arabia in early to mid-November.
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China → say → November
The Aporia
