ChinaMED Archive

This month’s big news item in Sino-Mediterranean relations was the state visit to China by President of the State of Palestine and of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas from June 13 to 16. This marked Abbas' fifth visit to the People's Republic since taking power almost two decades ago. During his four-day-long sojourn in Beijing, the Palestinian president met his Chinese counterpart Xi...

October was a politically crucial month for China because of the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. The Congress reduced the level of attention paid by Chinese media to foreign events, including those in the wider Mediterranean region. This, however, is not the only reason why this month’s ChinaMed Observer is shorter than previous issues. Protests broke out in Tehran in...

As the war in Ukraine drags on, we continue to see its effects also in the Chinese commentaries on the situation in the wider Mediterranean region. While the war is perceived as a factor that might delay the evolution of the regional political landscape, it is difficult not to notice a certain degree of optimism in Chinese analyses: for them the region, especially the Middle East, is slowly but...

In looking for a common theme in the commentaries written by Chinese journalists and scholars in April, it is clear that there is great concern in China about the evolution of many of the crises that are taking place in the wider Mediterranean region. From the situation in Libya to the Greek-Turkish tensions, from the elections in Israel to instability in Jordan and the slow progression of...

This month, the articles published in the wider Mediterranean region seem to suggest a generally spread two-fold approach to the countries’ relations with China. Despite the fact that many countries still view China as a major economic partner, there seems to be an increasing number of voices calling for caution in dealing with the Asian power. This is especially evident in the US-EU-China...