Throughout history international relations has always created its share of intrigue. It's interesting to read about China's expanding economic and political footprint in the Middle East.- Turkey and China last month touted "a new cooperation paradigm." Beijing's inroads with the Islamist government includes an agreement to transform the ancient Silk Road into a Silk Railway linking China and Turkey.
- China gets more than a quarter of its oil imports from the Persian Gulf and has billions invested in Iran's oil sector.
- China filled a void in Syria left by a decaying Soviet Union, providing the terrorist state with a variety of missiles and modernizing Syria's antiquated energy sector.
- China is the leading oil and gas investor in Iraq, and it is paying millions to protect its investment there. ( Iraq has the world's largest known oil reserves.) China has also forgiven billions of Iraqi debt.
- In the large scheme of things, "Although China holds a significant portion of U.S. debt, and trade relations are strong, at the end of the day the two nations are competitors, both strategic and economic- with profoundly different world views. It may be that this great game will end with Washington and Beijing as allies. More likely, though, a modus vivendi (agree to disagree) will emerge between the two powers."
- Increasingly, countries in the Middle East see China as a useful counterbalance against the West, amid a "growing regional perception that the United States is withdrawing from the Middle East."
From an article by David Schenker and Christina Lin, Los Angeles Times
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