This book analyses the expansion of Chinese power and influence in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) through Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects undertaken in the “1+ 2+ 3 cooperation pattern.” Under this framework, 1 represents energy, 2 represents infrastructure and trade and investment, and 3 represents nuclear energy, space satellites, and renewable energy. Taken together these elements indicate the trajectory of China’s MENA presence, and by examining each element in differe...

This handbook brings together a mix of established and emerging international scholars to provide valuable analytical insights into how China’s growing Middle East presence affects intra-regional development, trade, security, and diplomacy.As the largest extra-regional economic actor in the Middle East, China is the biggest source of foreign direct investment into the region and the largest trading partner for most Middle Eastern states. This portends a larger role in political and...

Fueled by its surging economic strength, China has been increasingly utilizing economic tools such as trade, foreign aid, foreign direct investment, and sanctions to pursue strategic and security interests on the world stage. This approach, known as economic statecraft, has thus far received mixed policy results and ambivalent reactions from the international community. This book presents a collection of global assessments of China's economic statecraft. The contributors to this volume ans...

Introduced in 2013, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has had a significant impact within Asia and across other regions. This book provides empirical case studies examining the relations between China and the states in specific regional groupings, including South-East Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, the Persian Gulf, the Horn of Africa, and Central/Eastern Europe.At the theoretical level, Buzan and Waever’s work on regional security complexes is used to develop a framework for...

As China’s international political role grows, its relations with states outside of its traditional sphere of interests is evolving. This is certainly the case of the Gulf monarchies of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, which together comprise the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). China’s levels of interdependence with these states has increased dramatically in recent years, spanning a wide range of interests. What motivating factors explain the Chines...

The Gulf monarchies have been generally perceived as status quo actors reliant on the USA for their security, but in response to regional events, particularly the Arab Spring of 2011, they are pursuing more activist foreign policies, which has allowed other international powers to play a larger role in regional affairs.This book analyses the changing dynamic in this region, with expert contributors providing original empirical case studies that examine the relations between the Gul...

Gulf stability is coming to play a larger role in the foreign policy calculus of many states, but the evolving role of Asian powers is largely under-represented in the International Relations literature. This volume addresses this gap with a set of empirically rich, theory driven case studies written by academics from or based in the countries in question. The underlying assumption is not that Asian powers have already become important security actors in the Gulf, but rather that they perc...