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  • How China’s Rise Is Changing the Middle East by Anoushiravan Ehteshami and Niv Horesh
  • Dawn C. Murphy (bio)
Anoushiravan Ehteshami and Niv Horesh. How China’s Rise Is Changing the Middle East. London and New York: Routledge, 2020. 174 pp. Hardcover $160.00, isbn 9780367255664. Paperback $48.95, isbn 9780367785710. E-Book $48.95, isbn 9780429288425.

How China’s Rise Is Changing the Middle East by Anoushiravan Ehteshami and Niv Horesh significantly contributes to the emerging literature on China’s contemporary interactions with the Middle East. This wide-ranging study speaks to China’s involvement in the Middle East and North Africa, excluding the Maghreb and Sudan. It examines economic, security, political, and sociocultural facets of relations and strongly focuses on elite views in China and the Middle East through print media, journal articles, and books.

This book provides historical context about China’s relations with the Middle East through a broad introduction to relations spanning from the Han dynasty to 2012. After providing this background, the rest of the book is focused on examining China’s relations with five key countries in the region (2012–2017): Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, and Israel. These case studies are based on a careful examination of Chinese sources such as the People’s Daily, top journals, and scholarly books, and Middle Eastern news reporting outlets and journals. The main strength of this book is deeply considering elite perceptions in both directions between the PRC and the Middle East based on the writings of elites in these various media and scholarly outlets.

Iran’s relations with the PRC are analyzed by examining writings in Farsi and Chinese in official media and scholarly literature in both countries. Ehteshami and Horesh argue that these two countries experienced a rapid deepening of mutual strategic relations as a function of U.S. foreign policy [End Page 7] toward Iran 2012–2016. The United States’ withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action drew Iran and China together to the point of becoming quasi-allies in the words of the authors. That said, they stress that the two countries are not on the verge of upgrading their relationship to a military alliance because China wants to avoid damaging its relations with the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Israel. In the Chinese People’s Daily, the most prominent issues in relations discussed were Iran’s nuclear program, economic relations, and broader political cooperation. Iran’s nuclear activities were by far the foremost concern in People’s Daily articles. Chinese scholarly articles and books tended to focus on the geostrategic importance of Iran, religious geopolitics, and Iran’s domestic politics, society, and culture.

Iranian perspectives were obtained by analyzing conservative versus reformist writings about China in the Iranian media. The major differences between these two groups tended to center on views of Xinjiang and the benefit of economic relations with China. Reformists are often more critical of China’s treatment of Uyghurs and tend to favor economic engagement with the West over China. Much of this analysis indicates that Iranian elite views of reformists and conservatives about the value of relations with China are deeply intertwined with current and desired characteristics of relations with the West more broadly.

The chapter on Saudi Arabia–China relations primarily analyzes Chinese elite views of Saudi Arabia 2012–2017.The Sunni–Shia split was the most prominent issue highlighted in the People’s Daily during that timeframe. The Chinese media emphasized Saudi’s role as an oil producer and the enduring aspects of Saudi-American relations as well as the importance of Saudi Arabia for the U.S. role in the Middle East. In general, Chinese media and scholarship provide similar analysis of Sino-Saudi relations. Saudi-American relations are seen as steady, and China must carefully balance its relations with Iran when considering its relations with Saudi Arabia. Sino-Saudi relations in all functional areas were seen as improving from 2012 to 2017. In Ehteshami and Horesh’s view, outside the areas of energy, trade, and investment, China’s relations with Saudi Arabia are not as strategic as with Iran. That said, Saudi Arabia continues to be an important partner...

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