Hello network,
As I reach the fourth week of my research project, I thought I would take some time to publish a sub-section of a policy document that I wrote alongside my final research paper. In this, it lays out a brief summary of what my project entails and the implications of the research. However, before doing so, I would like to briefly discuss the actual title of the research. After many iterations, I concluded that the most impactful section of the development of Sino-Middle Eastern relations was the role that China has- and could continue- to play in the Middle East peace process, narrowing this focus to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and Iran and the wider region. In this, the research sufficiently combines a deep interest in history, geopolitics, and economics, all of which help uncover the fascinating potential of China in creating a stable and peaceful region in the Middle East.
Policy Document
Executive Summary
- The Middle East has long been a region rifled with contradictions. Whilst being a region of incredibly rich history and the birthplace of civilisation, it has also been a region of immense instability and conflict. As a result of diametrically opposing ideologies across the region- including, inter alia, the battle between Zionism and anti-Zionism, foreign interventionism and sovereignty, conservatism and modernism- today’s Middle East is extensively fractured.
- Along with all the fractures and instability has led to a myriad of conflicts throughout the The United States has played the most significant role in developing peace across the region over the past half-century; from the Camp David Accords establishing diplomatic recognition between Egypt and Israel- starting the so-called Middle East Peace Process- to the most recent diplomatic feat of the Abraham Accords. Whilst others have played a meaningful role, no state or non-state actor has played anywhere close to a role as the United States.
- Whilst the United States has played an incredible role in developing the peace process across the region, it is nonetheless the case that the Middle East is “the graveyard of plans for peace” (Carr, 2023). Today, the region is incredibly unpredictable and unstable, with the smallest catalyst having the potential of evoking a region-wide conflict. Moreover, over the past decade the Middle East has witnessed a significant paradigm shift: the decline in the United States’ primacy in the region, the growth of independent policy making and statecraft by governments in the region, and the growing expansion of multipolarity in the region. The Middle East has arguably become the epicentre of the new age of great power competition through the influence of the United States and China, as well as the new emergence as independent regional powers.
- This policy document and research paper, following an exploration of the history of external mediation in the development of the Middle East peace process- specifically in the field of Israeli-Arab normalisation and the Iran-Israel shadow conflict- will investigate the emergence of the People’s Republic of China as a superpower with great influence in the Middle East, ultimately investigating whether China can replace the United States as the primary external peace broker in the Middle East.
Implications of Research
The research is of the utmost importance as a result of the importance of the stability and peacefulness of the Middle East. As will be outlined in the research paper, a significant proportion of the world relies on the Middle Eastern region for the traverse of commerce, the exporting of petrochemical products, functioning of financial markets, and the combating of terrorism across the region and the wider world.
The current paradigm that has been established- whereby the United States has taken the role as the primary peace-broker in the Middle East- has created a level of unpredictability across the region: its vehement support for Israel has led to accusations of bias in brokering Israeli-Palestinian peace agreements, the ideological parochialism towards the Islamic Republic of Iran has raised concerns of nuclear proliferation across the wider region, and the exodus of military and political support for regimes across the region has led to accusations of the United States as an untrustworthy ally, a crucial element required to be able to negotiate peace.
If the People’s Republic of China is able to assert itself as the primary peacebroker in the Middle East, its ramifications for the international order will be immense; questions surrounding the longevity of peace agreements, their reliability and credibility, and the contrasts to the regions’ security and stability. As an area of international relations currently under-examined, this research paper serves as an insight into the existing literature on the Middle East peace process as well as exploring the under-examined field of Chinese peace diplomacy in the region.
Bibliography
Carr, Edward, “Don’t Give Up On Peace in the Middle East”, The Economist, November 2023
Ricci, Sebastien, “China’s Xi Calls for Middle East Peace Conference”, Al-Monitor, 2022