China keen to step up in Mideast as US shifts attention to Indo-Pacific
- Four months after his last trip to the Middle East, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visits Syria, Egypt and Algeria
- China is positioning itself to be involved in the region’s economic and political landscape, but analysts question how much influence it can assert
Over the last week it has been Syria, Egypt and Algeria. In between there was also a phone call with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad.
Four months earlier there was a series of stops in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s trips to the Middle East and northern Africa are just some of the dozens of various diplomatic contacts Chinese officials have made with leaders in the region in recent months as the area becomes one of Beijing’s geopolitical pivot points. Chinese officials have also held talks with Afghan, Iraqi and Kuwaiti officials.
As the US withdraws its troops from most Middle Eastern countries – including Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait – China has positioned itself amid reconstruction in those countries and as a mediator, especially in the Israel-Palestine conflict.