bodyType

customContents

entityId

printArticlePageQuery

filter

article

body

urlAlias

articleSectionsContent

articleSeoArticle

articleSourceHeaderArticle

contentSchemaRenderContent

contentSubHeadlineContent

contentHeadlineContent

mainImagePrintArticleArticle

authorBlockPrintArticleArticle

contentSponsorTagContent

articlePianoPaywallContent

scmpYoutubeContent

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

query printArticlePageQuery(
  $entityId: String!
  $customContents: [CustomContentInput]
  $bodyType: BodyFormatTypeEnum
) {
  article(filter: {entityId: $entityId}) {
    entityId
    body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
      json
    }
    urlAlias
    ...articleSectionsContent
    ...articleSeoArticle_3o8td4
    ...articleSourceHeaderArticle
    ...contentSchemaRenderContent
    ...contentSubHeadlineContent
    ...contentHeadlineContent
    ...mainImagePrintArticleArticle
    ...authorBlockPrintArticleArticle
    ...contentSponsorTagContent
    ...articlePianoPaywallContent
    ...scmpYoutubeContent
    ...hooksTrackPageViewArticle
    id
  }
}

fragment articlePianoPaywallContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksPaywallPromiseContent
}

fragment articleSectionsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      ...helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection
      ...entityLink
      name
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment articleSeoArticle_3o8td4 on Article {
  ...hooksArticleSeoArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersGetArticleTypeArticle
  entityId
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
  summary {
    text
  }
  subHeadline {
    text
  }
  body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
    text
  }
  keywords
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  topics {
    name
    entityId
    id
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  images {
    style(filter: {style: "768x768"}) {
      url
    }
  }
  readingTime
}

fragment articleSourceHeaderArticle on Article {
  urlAlias
  ...entityLink
}

fragment authorBlockPrintArticleArticle on Article {
  ...defaultArticleDateContent
  ...authorNamesArticle
}

fragment authorNameAuthor on Author {
  ...entityLink
  name
  entityUuid
}

fragment authorNamesArticle on Article {
  authorLocations
  authors {
    entityId
    location
    ...authorNameAuthor
    id
  }
}

fragment blockquoteQuoteContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment contentHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  socialHeadline
  ...contentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
}

fragment contentNewsletterWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
    id
  }
  sections {
    value {
      relatedNewsletters {
        ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
        id
      }
      id
    }
  }
  ... on Article {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment contentSchemaRenderContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...blockquoteQuoteContent
  ...imageContent
  ...inlineWidgetContent
  ...photoGalleryWidgetContent
  ...scmpYoutubeContent
}

fragment contentShareWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  shortUrl
  socialHeadline
  headline
}

fragment contentSponsorTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentSubHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  subHeadline {
    json
  }
  summary {
    json
  }
  ...contentSchemaRenderContent
}

fragment defaultArticleDateContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksArticleDateUtilsContent
}

fragment entityLink on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  __typename
  entityId
  entityUuid
  urlAlias
  urlRedirect {
    toUrl
    id
  }
  application {
    entityId
    id
  }
  ... on Section {
    fullSectionPath {
      entityId
      id
    }
    parentSection
  }
  ...helpersAppBarVariantBase
  ...helpersApplicationBase
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersAppBarVariantBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsLiveArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...helpersSectionContent
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersApplicationBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
}

fragment helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection on Section {
  name
}

fragment helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle on Article {
  entityId
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  disableOffPlatformContent
  sponsorType
  published
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment helpersCheckIsLiveArticle on Article {
  flattenTypeIds
  liveArticle {
    status
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    paywallTypes {
      entityUuid
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsStyleArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersGetArticleTypeArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        entityId
        id
      }
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter on Newsletter {
  entityId
  name
  alternativeName
  description {
    text
  }
  summary {
    text
  }
  homepageDescription {
    text
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle on Article {
  authors {
    types
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersStyleSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersUseContentSponsorContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    sponsor {
      ...sponsorTagSponsor
      name
      type
      id
    }
    id
  }
  ... on Article {
    sponsorType
  }
  ...helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent
}

fragment hooksArticleDateUtilsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  createdDate
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
}

fragment hooksArticleSeoArticle on Article {
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle
  entityId
  headline
  socialHeadline
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
  images {
    generic_og: style(filter: {style: "og_image_scmp_generic"}) {
      url
    }
    styles(filter: {styles: ["og_image_posties_article", "og_postmag", "og_image_style", "og_image_scmp_analysis", "og_image_scmp_explainer", "og_image_scmp_editorial", "og_image_scmp_fact_check", "og_image_scmp_debate", "og_image_scmp_live", "og_image_scmp_obituary", "og_image_scmp_opinion", "og_image_scmp_review", "og_image_scmp_series", "og_image_scmp_generic"]}) {
      url
      style
    }
    type
  }
  urlAlias
}

fragment hooksContentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        name
        entityId
        description {
          text
        }
        id
      }
    }
    ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  }
  flag
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  ...hooksContentHelperContent
}

fragment hooksContentHelperContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle
  ...helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle
  ...helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle
  flag
}

fragment hooksPaywallPromiseContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment hooksTrackPageViewArticle on Article {
  entityId
  publishedDate
  headline
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  entityUuid
}

fragment imageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  ...checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent
}

fragment inlineWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentNewsletterWidgetContent
}

fragment mainImagePrintArticleArticle on Article {
  images {
    title
    url
    isSlideshow
    size_652x446: style(filter: {style: "652x446"}) {
      url
    }
  }
}

fragment photoGalleryDialogContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment photoGalleryWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...photoGalleryDialogContent
}

fragment scmpYoutubeContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  publishedDate
}

fragment sponsorTagSponsor on Sponsor {
  name
  type
  images {
    url
  }
}


sections

types

disableOffPlatformContent

sponsorType

published

headline

socialHeadline

authors

images

publishedDate

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

keywords

topics

readingTime

authorLocations

entityUuid

Peter T. C. Chang

As the US pulls back, China is leaning in, drawing Middle East states into its “community with a shared future”. Beijing’s geoeconomic strategy will not promote liberal democracy in the region but it could restore socioeconomic stability in some of the conflict-ridden countries.
The Ukraine war has galvanised the West. But others, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Israel, are reluctant to join the US-led sanctions against Russia. For these traditional American allies, the seeds of hesitancy were sowed earlier. They saw in former US president Barack Obama’s avowed pivot to Asia and US President Joe Biden’s hasty withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan signs to redraw alliances, including closer alignment with China.
In January, foreign ministers from the Middle East, including from Iran and Turkey, visited China to discuss economic collaboration. Then, it was reported that Saudi Arabia had invited Chinese President Xi Jinping for a state visit in May, which would be the first overseas trip for the Chinese leader since the pandemic began.
But China is wading into a region fraught with risk. For example, in January, the UAE – where many Chinese companies operate – intercepted two ballistic missiles over the skies of Abu Dhabi fired by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
Because it hedges its bets between sworn enemies and follows a “no-strings attached” investment policy, China is accused of unprincipled mercantilism. Beijing’s retort is its long-standing policy of non-interference, which suited autocrats in Gulf states who reciprocated with their silence on Xinjiang.
Actually, China’s policy of non-intervention has religious roots, namely, polytheism. The ancient Chinese believed in multiple pathways to the ultimate good. This pluralistic ethos underpins China’s conviction that every country should determine its own political destiny.
By contrast, Christian monotheism asserts that the church alone is the gateway to salvation. This theology shaped the US’ sense of destiny as the beacon on the hill, which must liberate and democratise the world.


Surely, the Chinese also aspire to a free world, but Confucianism posits that the best way to achieve this is through exemplary leadership. Indeed, the Chinese emperor reigned with the belief that the virtuous power of his benevolent rule could lead to peace under heaven. Thus, for much of its long history, the self-absorbed Middle Kingdom barely ventured beyond the Great Wall.
One exception was the Ming dynasty’s Admiral Zheng He, a Hui Muslim, whose epic voyages reached the Horn of Africa. This brings us to the historic significance of today’s China and its growing presence in the Middle East. Not since the 15th century has China’s footprint been so widely spread across the globe. In fact, the Belt and Road Initiative has surpassed the Zheng He maritime route it seeks to replicate.
Globalisation has finally caught up with China. The once self-contained Middle Kingdom now knows its fate is intertwined with the wider world. And with a worsening environmental crisis, among other exigencies, China is mindful that it must stay globally engaged, to save the world, and itself.
Thus, unlike Zheng He’s expedition, which ended abruptly, China’s 21st-century global outreach may be here to stay. That said, modern China has retained a crucial Ming dynasty feature, namely, a tributary-like power configuration centred on trade and commerce.
As with its imperial forebears, China today has no grand geopolitical ambition. Instead, Beijing’s intent is to carve out a geoeconomic sphere of influence. President Xi sets this up as a quest for “common prosperity” in a community with a shared future where humankind’s diverse civilisations can coexist harmoniously.


Amid the Ukraine war, the US is again framing the threat to the existing world order as a battle between democracy and autocracy. Unless the free world prevails, Washington warns, peace will elude humanity.
But China is determined to move past the West’s bipolar world view. It is advancing an alternative master narrative of sustaining an inclusive global economic order where divergent political ideologies can exist alongside each other in pursuit of peace and prosperity.
Herein lies an intriguing study of the two superpowers’ contrasting visions and postures.
When the Berlin Wall fell, the US set out to transform the world, convinced that liberal democracy is the “end of history”. But after the Iraq and Afghanistan debacles, the US’ appetite for nation-building has diminished. The post-Cold-War triumphalism has dissipated, and the US is back on the defensive, warding off resurgent autocracies.


China, on the other hand, is marching forward, touting its geoeconomic vision and expanding the belt and road network across continents. Beijing is helping Iraq and Afghanistan rebuild their devastated economies, but is leaving it to the Iraqis and Afghans to determine their own political fate.
China’s strategy is a play on the “Asian values” argument that social economic stability must precede the restoration of civil political rights. But the Asian values argument has left the US feeling betrayed. After facilitating China’s re-emergence as an economic powerhouse, Washington was aghast when Beijing refused to embrace liberal democracy.
US-China relations are on a downward spiral and there’s no coming back
Clearly, the Chinese Communist Party has its own version of good governance, and a rising China is not likely to facilitate the cause of liberal democracy. In fact, with Beijing’s no-strings-attached investment policy, political enmity and ethno-religious sectarianism is likely to continue to beset the Middle East. But what is the alternative?
The US preference was to wage war, topple tyrants and change regimes. Yet billions of dollars and countless lost lives later, the US campaign to free the oppressed has yielded neither political liberty nor economic stability.
Xi’s potential visit to Saudi Arabia, and China’s burgeoning influence in the wider region, is not expected to yield immediate political transformation. But Xi’s vision of a community with a shared future could bring socioeconomic relief to some of the war-torn countries. And for many whose livelihood has been shattered, this may well be the life-saving strategy that matters most for now.
Peter T.C. Chang is deputy director of the Institute of China Studies, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia


China’s ‘no strings attached’ approach to the Middle East may work better than US ethos of liberation

Illustration: Craig Stephens

Opinion

Comment

News

China

Diplomacy


Beijing’s strategy may not banish political enmity and ethno-religious strife from the region, but it could bring socioeconomic relief to war-torn countries. And for those suffering hardship, that may be a lifesaver



Beijing’s strategy may not banish political enmity and ethno-religious strife from the region, but it could bring socioeconomic relief to some war-torn countries. And for those suffering hardship, that may be a lifesaver.


Middle East

Belt and Road Initiative

China trade

US-China relations

Belt and Road: Comment

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Opinion | China’s ‘no strings attached’ approach to the Middle East may work better than US ethos of liberation

Beijing’s strategy may not banish political enmity and ethno-religious strife from the region, but it could bring socioeconomic relief to war-torn countries. And for those suffering hardship, that may be a lifesaver