China expected to keep its distance from Middle East conflicts, focus on cooperation
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
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Guy Burton, an adjunct professor at Brussels School of Governance in Belgium who specialises in Middle East affairs, said Hu’s visit aimed to ensure all key Gulf countries were covered after last week’s summits, which UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan did not attend and where multiple issues related to Iran were discussed
“Chinese always try to balance anything they do with one side by undertaking a visit or agreeing to do something with the other soon after,” he said.
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Burton said China had managed to achieve a level of economic exchange and “reasonably good” relations with countries in the region while avoiding getting involved in their conflicts, and he expected Beijing would continue along that path “as far” and “as long” as it could.
“Although the Chinese regularly express their support for peaceful solutions to regional conflicts, they don’t look to involve themselves as mediators or peace brokers as a rule,” he said.
“These conflicts are often deep-rooted and therefore difficult to resolve. They require substantial investments in time and effort to solve, and as the cases of Libya, Yemen and Syria have shown over the past decade, that hasn’t been easy to do.”
But China might eventually be unable to distance itself from some regional conflicts, he added, as situations on the ground might force China to step in as Chinese investments were put at risk.
China had tried to play a mediating role in some conflicts before, including on Palestine, Burton said, but the results had not been “brilliant”.
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Burton said that while he did not think China had any interest in “replacing the US as the regional hegemon”, and Saudi Arabia was “unlikely to downgrade its alliance with the US”, Xi’s visit served both Beijing and Riyadh’s purposes “in reminding Washington and others that they are both important and significant actors who cannot be ignored or overlooked”.
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