February 2018

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 an article written by the former Middle East Institute fellow Mohamed Elmenshawy.

In an article for Al-Shouruk, Elmenshawy highlighted that in the Arab world, many hold an almost nostalgic view of international relations today, likening the current Russian state to its Soviet past in which it competed globally and regionally with the United States. However, the countries of the region should instead be looking towards China, which has both the money and the ideological capability to challenge the West.

Moving to economic issues, Israeli media reported heavily on the concerns of local business associations about China’s presence in the country at a time that the country’s interests in the Israeli high-tech market are seemingly waning. Gera Kaushansky, a cadre of the Associated Builders and Contractors, reportedly wrote a letter to the head of the Antitrust Authority Michal Halperin asking for more scrutiny to be placed on Chinese corporations. According to Kaushansky, the government should be careful in permitting Chinese corporations to conduct business within the country. She argues that these corporations operate according to the wishes of Beijing and could potentially create problems for Israel’s national security. At the same time, Haaretz reported that Chinese investments in Israeli startups have been decreasing since 2015. However, as the article argues, the Chinese system is not capable of innovation like those of Israel and other democratic states and therefore Israel will keep being needed by Beijing, regardless of how many patents Chinese tech giants will register. Alluding to another issue that might be slowing the flow of capitals to Israel, the newspaper Maariv interviewed Eyal Shimoni, head of Bank Leumi’s Shanghai representative office, about the restrictions of outbound capitals from China. Recently, a deal between an Israeli company and a Chinese partner concerning investment in a water-purification project was cancelled because of the difficulties in exporting capital from outside the country.

While the sources of these issues in Israel are domestic, criticisms in Algeria about China’s growing presence in the country come from outside. Djazairess commented on the complaints of French businessmen following their visit to Algeria. According to the journalist, the lack of results should be blamed on the members of the French delegation that were not willing to engage in large-scale projects like, for example, their Chinese counterparts do.

As to more direct calls for balanced trade relations, Turkish, Iranian, and Egyptian media reported oncalls made by government officials for the reduction of the trade deficit between their respective countries and China. Turkey's Customs and Trade Minister Bülent Tüfenkci was explicitly stated that ensuring China’s appreciation of all the investment opportunities in Turkey is a priority for his government. Tariq Qabeel, the Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry, met with the Chinese Ambassador in Cairo, Song Aiguo, and business representatives from both sides to ensure that more agricultural products from Egypt can reach the Chinese market. Seyyed Ziaeddin Shojaei-Borhan, Iran's Deputy Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade, highlighted new laws passed in the country which are aimed at improving the business environment for foreign companies. In order to further court Chinese consumers and investors, Iran has also set up a special pavilion in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone. Yet, despite the attempts to diversify its engagement with China, Iranian media also reported on the visit of Chinese officials from the China Huanqiu Contracting & Engineering Corporation to Chabahar to finalize a multi-billion dollar investment in Iran's petrochemical industry.

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