Events

In this event, some of the authors of the articles that compose a special issue published by the peer-review journal Global Policy will gather to discuss some of the key features of China's engagement with the Middle East.

How will the Euro-Mediterranean actors react to these dynamics? Which role, if any, can they play to smoothen these rising tensions? And lastly, is the existing economic interdependence providing the space for new independent courses in their foreign policy or will they be unavoidably absorbed in this new geopolitical contest? This workshop aims to address these crucial issues thanks to the contribution of a unique set of renowned experts and their interaction with a public of selected practitioners and John Cabot University students.

The scholars and experts that participated in the roundtable were asked to present and discuss the positioning of local actors in the wider Mediterranean region vis-à-vis Beijing against the background of rising Sino-American rivalry and the war in Ukraine, as well as if and how China's approach to the different countries of the region is adapting in reaction to region- and country-level changes and dynamics.

As China's role in the wider Mediterranean region continues to deepen, a group of experts from prestigious research institutions gathered to discuss this issue, taking into consideration the role of local actors in shaping China's economic, diplomatic and security presence in this pivotal region.

The Director of the ChinaMed Project, Prof. Enrico Fardella, discussed China's role in the wider Mediterranean region at an event held at the Università degli Studi di Roma in Rome.

In the dilemma whether increasing consumption or investments, China used to primarily rely on technology and R&D coming through FDIs, while on the outbound focused on outward M&As of Chinese champions investing abroad. The trade war and increasing tension from economy to geopolitics has proved this model is no longer viable. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought new external factors to the equation and a further disruption of the status quo.