Back to the future: Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Middle East visit ... and his Middle Kingdom dream

It is often said that history has a habit of repeating itself. If that holds true for global affairs, then President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) whirlwind trip this week to Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt should be seen as a modern-day equivalent of China’s exploration of Central and West Asia 2,000 years ago.

Xi’s visit to the Middle East, his first since he came to office three years ago, is aimed at boosting his programme to rebuild the Silk Road network of trade routes, formally established during the Han dynasty (206BC-AD220), that linked the regions of the ancient world in commerce.

Xi’s aim is to seek energy security, export markets and economic ties. He hopes to forge closer political, diplomatic and military relationships and rebuild China’s image and influence as a global power. He seeks a stature for modern China similar to that of the Middle Kingdom two millennia ago.

China has good reasons to attach such importance to the Middle East because the world’s second-largest economy and leading manufacturer relies on oil from the Gulf – where more than half its imports originate – to fuel its growth.

Moreover, Beijing worries about extremists in the region providing training and inspiration to Muslim separatists in western China, which has a Muslim population of about 40 million.

Xi has chosen the Middle East as his first foreign destination in 2016, which suggests he sees it as a priority.