Shifting sands in the Middle East

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Shifting sands in the Middle East

20 Apr 2021

The Joe Biden administration has initiated an outreach to Iran with the hope of eventually reviving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action but China is seemingly ahead of the curve. Last month, the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, undertook a week-long, six-nation Middle East tour, which saw him travelling to a diverse set of states, including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Bahrain. While the signing of the 25-year strategic partnership pact with Iran has garnered a lot of attention, Beijing also unveiled a rather ambitious plan “for achieving security and stability in the Middle East by offering constructive boosts to Palestine-Israel dialogue, resuming the Iran nuclear deal and building a security framework in this region.” This was a virtual declaration, if it was needed, that China has arrived in the Middle East and it intends to stay there for good. Ever since the days of the Barack Obama administration, Washington has been signaling that it wants to move away from the region and focus more on the Indo-Pacific, which is now the centre of gravity of global politics and economics. In the process, it has left its partners and foes in the Middle East equally confused and, so, the attraction for a Chinese presence in the region has been growing, moving beyond the economic to the wider strategic ambit. While Obama shunned America’s traditional allies, Donald Trump courted them, and Biden is still trying to figure out what to do.
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Authors

Harsh V. Pant

Published in
India

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