For decades, Pakistan has played a key role as a cornerstone of China’s strategy for Central Asia and South Asia. Its geo-strategic position is crucial as it serves as a gateway to the Middle East, where China seeks access to the energy-rich Persian Gulf region. This study tentatively attempts examine how recent promising developments between China and Pakistan may enhance Beijing’s economic and strategic regional influence and thus change the scope of Beijing’s influence from geo-economic to geo-strategic in the Middle East. The findings indicate that China–Pakistan relations may have broad geo-economic and geo-strategic implications, not only for the Middle East, but also for the broader Asia region where both the US and China compete to assert their sphere of influence.
This article analyses the motivation behind China’s measures to formalise a solid strategic partnership with Turkey. One cannot ignore the inherent potential and impact on the region of a Chinese strategic partnership with Turkey and Beijing’s balancing efforts to contain US predominance in the Middle East. However, China’s bilateral relationship with Turkey is essentially limited, with narrow strategic manoeuvrability, which make the two countries unlikely to become solid strategic partners in the foreseeable future. Yet an improved strategy and more sophisticated diplomatic tactics by China could bring it closer to reality.
Since the event popularly termed the ‘Arab spring’ and the changing balance of power in the Middle East, where China has economic interests, there has been a conspicuous balancing behaviour against the United States, the sole superpower. This article discusses whether the Chinese and Russian vetoes on Syria can be interpreted as a potential threat to counterbalance American moves in world politics, particularly in the Middle East. After abstaining on the no-fly zone over Libya, China vetoed thrice on the Syrian crisis. Beijing used its position to frame the agenda of the Security Council and to indirectly challenge US objectives in the region. China’s diplomatic cooperation and coordination with Russia displays their mutual determination to check the US’ moves in United Nations Security Council (UNSC) debates on the Syrian crisis. Yet, China is still very cautious about confronting the US directly or antagonising it, realising that it is still much weaker than Washington, and would gain nothing from such actions. Therefore, the Chinese strategy is to not engage in hard balancing behaviour, but in soft balancing which allows for the creation of strategic relationships through which hard balancing can occur in the future.
In recent years, China has been seeking to deepen its global centrality by connecting to Asia, Europe, and Africa through investments in physical infrastructure, that is, ports and pipelines, high-speed rail, and other utilities, with associated bilateral trade and investments in critical states along the land-and sea-based Silk Road. Oman is positioned to play a critical role in China's expanding footprint in the Middle East. Its advantageous maritime location, influence in energy markets, and independent foreign policy make Oman an attractive partner for China and of vital strategic significance in the construction and realization of the twenty-firstcentury Maritime Silk Road Initiative (MSRI). Oman has enthusiastically embraced China's MSRI and expressed an eagerness to leverage China's growing influence in the Middle East to transform itself into a center of global trade and manufacturing.
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