Category: Mideast

By Haitham El-Tabei With a map of China on the wall behind him, 14-year-old Yasser al-Shaalan studied the names of professions in a Chinese textbook, one of thousands of Saudi children now learning the language at school.

In the fall of 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was preparing to travel to Beijing for what was expected to be an upbeat meeting with President Xi Jinping on October 20th. Of course, Netanyahu never made that trip due to the attack by Hamas terrorists ...

By Talek Harris The United Arab Emirates is planning to launch new artificial intelligence models inspired by China's DeepSeek, a senior official told AFP, calling the system's disruptive emergence "fantastic news." Faisal Al Bannai, the ...

The U.S. Treasury announced financial sanctions on Thursday, the first under the new administration of Donald Trump, that target an "international network" accused of shipping Iranian oil to China to fund Tehran's military activities. The sanctions target the network for "facilitating ...

China said Thursday that it welcomed a ceasefire agreement in Gaza between Israel and the Hamas militant group, vowing "unremitting efforts to promote peace and stability in the Middle East." "We also sincerely hope that relevant parties will take the ceasefire ...

China’s engagement in the Middle East has grown significantly in recent years, driven by its quest for energy security, global influence, and economic connectivity through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). By 2025, three key trends are likely to shape Beijing’s approach to the region, highlighting both ...

The top diplomats of China and Iran agreed Saturday that the Middle East is "not a battleground for the big powers" and should not be an arena of geopolitical competition between countries outside the region. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his ...

A few months ago, China looked like it had all its Mideast diplomacy figured out. Israel and the U.S. were taking heavy hits in the court of global public opinion over the devastation caused by the war in Gaza.

China's foreign minister Wang Yi told his Egyptian counterpart on Friday that Beijing is "deeply concerned" about the situation in Syria, as the two top diplomats met in the Chinese capital. Ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad fled the country after a ...

China's foreign ministry said Sunday it hopes Syria "returns to stability as soon as possible" after Islamist-led rebels announced they had taken Damascus and sent President Bashar al-Assad fleeing. Beijing "is closely following the development of the situation in Syria and ...

China's embassy sent an urgent notice on Thursday advising its citizens to leave Syria "as soon as possible" as Islamist-led rebel forces continue their offensive against President Bashar al-Assad's troops. The rebels, led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), ...

China on Monday said it "supports Syria's efforts to maintain national security and stability" after a shock rebel offensive saw government forces lose control of Aleppo. "China is willing to make positive efforts to prevent further deterioration of the situation in ...