Today is a public holiday in South Africa – Human Rights Day. There’s a certain irony in spending the day focusing on China’s President Xi Jinping’s visit to Vladimir Putin, knee-deep in a human rights disaster.
What one makes of the Ukraine crisis increasingly maps on where one lives. This is made clear by a remarkable new set of polling data recently published by the European Council on Foreign Relations ...
Category: Mideast
How Significant Is China’s Role in the Saudi-Iran Rapprochement?
By Chris Alden, Felix Brender and Lukas Fiala Saudi Arabia’s and Iran’s decision to restore diplomatic relations has taken many observers by surprise. Even more so, the fact that Beijing was presented as the mediator bringing to an end the seven-year hiatus ...
What to Make of China’s Mideast Diplomatic Breakthrough?
New details are emerging about the landmark diplomatic deal brokered by China for Saudi Arabia and Iran to restore diplomatic relations. The initial excitement about the prospects for peace between these two Persian Gulf rivals has given way to a more ...
Israel Not Happy About the China-Brokered Iran-Saudi Arabia Deal
Few countries are as directly affected by the Saudi-Iran deal as Israel. The announcement seemed to have caught the Netanyahu government off guard and occasioned intense discussion, with incumbent and opposition politicians blaming each other for appearing “weak” and lessening Israel’s clout in the region. ...
Xi Reassures Raisi Everything is OK Between China and Iran
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is undoubtedly relieved that his meeting on Tuesday with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping went smoothly and (at least on the surface) Tehran's ties with Beijing seem back on track. Over the past year, there's ...
Iran Leans Into Ties With China to Ease the Sanctions Burden From the U.S., Say Scholars
Iran's shift away from engagement with the U.S. and Europe and towards China is the key theme of this week's visit to Beijing by President Ebrahim Raisi, according to two of China's leading Mideast scholars. Professor Ding Long from Shanghai International ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Xi Bets on Global South in Moscow
Iranian President Embarks on Critical Visit to China
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi is visiting China for his first state visit and the first by an Iranian president in two decades. Raisi is traveling with a large entourage, including Iran’s central bank chief and its top nuclear negotiator. ...
Background: Why China-Iran Relations Are a Lot More Complicated Than They Appear
Bill Figueroa is a research associate at the University of Cambridge Centre for Geopolitics and is widely regarded as one of the world's foremost experts on China-Iran relations. The analysis below is copied from a 12-part thread that he published on Twitter and has been ...
Arab Media Expresses Optimism Towards the China-Arab Summit
Arab media showed optimism toward the China Arab Summit which kicks off Friday in Saudi Arabia. Only a few hours before its kick-off, Arab media says the summit reflects the “strong position” that Arab countries hold within the new global system. ...
Understanding Chinese Influence
By Lukas Fiala Xi Jinping’s current trip to Saudi Arabia has been accompanied by the usual framing of great power competition between the U.S. and China. The story in many of this week’s newspapers is one in which China increasingly ...
Xi Arrives in Saudi Arabia
Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in Saudi Arabia. His time there will be taken up by bilateral meetings and regional summits with leaders from across the Middle East and North Africa. So far, the press coverage has mostly ...