ChinaMED Archive

The search through the media outlets of the wider Mediterranean region reflected two main trends in their perception of the Chinese presence. On the one hand, Middle Eastern and North Africa countries emphasized, despite occasional critics, the importance of China’s continuing economic and diplomatic engagement in the region. On the other hand, European countries and Israel expressed deep...

We found a number of very interesting articles published by the media of the wider Mediterranean region that provide important insights into some of the most interesting aspects of China’s relations with the countries there. Though we selected articles published by the media of a number of countries for this month’s review, the most interesting ones were those from Iran and Lebanon.

This month, our review of the media reports published in the wider Mediterranean region focuses on the debate surrounding the “oil-for-reconstruction” agreement between Iraq and China; Sino-French competition in Morocco, Algeria, and Lebanon; the Iranian discussion about the relations with China; and continuing criticism from a number of countries about how China handled the Covid-19 outbreak...

April was a month of reckoning as media across the wider Mediterranean region published polls and commentaries that helped shed light on how the public reacted to Beijing’s aid campaign and to Washington’s attempt to reshape the COVID-19 narrative with an emphasis on Chinese responsibility. In Southern Europe, it seems that Italy was the only country where Chinese so-called “mask diplomacy”...

Media from the wider Mediterranean region covers meetings between Chinese and local officials. Among them, the comments written by Nozad Hasan for the Iraqi newspaper al-Zaman is the most interesting one. As noted in the previous issue of the ChinaMed Bulletin, many commentators expressed doubts about the usefulness of the visit of the Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi to Beijing in...