ChinaMED Archive

As the relations between China and the United States continue to worsen, public opinion in the Mediterranean region continues to grow increasingly fragmented and diversified. While the narrative surrounding China’s role in the region and its foreign and economic policies has become very clear in countries such as Iran and Israel, there are also growing tensions and uncertainties in other...

Trends in Mediterranean debate regarding China have continued much as reported in our previous issues, with the exception of news concerning Iran. On 24 January the Islamic Republic News Agency reported on complaints made by the Iranian ambassador in Beijing to Vladimir Norov, the new Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Iran has been an observer of SCO since 2005...

From the protests in Iran to Turkey's intervention in Syria, January was an eventful month for the Mediterranean region. Chinese media and commentators did not shy away from putting forward their opinions.Turkey is taking a great military and strategic risk with its "Olive Branch" operation. Li Weijian and Sun Degang, two scholars from Shanghai International Studies University, pointed out that...

In February, several events captured the attention of the Chinese media. While Chinese commentators and analysts were mainly bystanders to the events in Syria, they were directly involved in pushing back against Europe’s accusations of China "infiltrating" the Balkans.The Chinese media focused mainly on the US, Russia, Turkey, and Israel while discussing the still-ongoing war in Syria...

In February, the Mediterranean media focused on the issue of maintaining a balanced trade relationship with China. Even when compared to the low attention paid to more political aspects of the Chinese presence in the region, economic preoccupations clearly dominated this month's issue of the Bulletin. The only exception is...