September 2017

During September 2017, the Chinese media articles that we selected showed concerns for the evolution of the Kurd issue and the possible repercussions for regional politics.

Xinhua interviewed Tang Zhichao, the Director of the Division of Middle East Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of West-Asian and African Studies. Tang showed pessimism for the outcome of the Kurd referendum and emphasized the growing pressure that the government of Iran, Turkey, Syria, and Iraq put on the Kurd leader Masoud Barzani. Yet, according to the scholar, there is little doubt that the Kurds are likely to remain a highly influential actor in the region for some time to come. Tian Wenlin, a researcher at the China Institute of International Relations, put forward a similar opinion and warned that the Kurd issue is likely to bring significant uncertainties to an already-troubled region. At the same time, Chinese authors see the United States and its allies as retreating from Syria. Such development was quickly identified as another important source of instability. Although Bashar Al-Assad has the initiative in the civil war and is predicted to win over the opposition, stability will hardly return because of the damages created by the proxy war the US and its allies have been engaged in for a long time already.

Against this background, more stable countries in the region are growingly enjoying the benefits from economic cooperation with China. In particular, according to the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), the UAE was the main recipient of Chinese investments in the Arab world between January and July. In that period, Chinese investments totaled USD 321 million (+9,76% compared to the same period the previous year) and the trade between the two countries reached USD 23,641 billion (+1,3%). Chinese companies operate in renewable energies, oil and gas, manufacturing, finance, and basic infrastructures sectors of the UAE economy.

Despite the strengthening of the economic partnership with the region, scholars from the Shanghai Institute of International Studies highlighted the need to further improve and better calibrate the message that Chinese diplomacy should convey to its regional partners in order to smoothen the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In particular, it is the link between economic cooperation, promotion of good governance, and regional stability that should be made clear to the regional audience. China's approach must be clearly presented as different from the Western one, which is described as treating security and economic development as two separate issues. The scholars are well aware that many countries are primarily concerned with the many serious security crises in the region and, therefore, they suggested that Chinese diplomacy should take this fact when engaging the region. Otherwise, they pointed out, there is the risk that regional partners might pay not enough attention to the BRI.

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