“In China there’s been for a long time people saying ‘we should do something, we should be more proactive in the Middle East’. Proactive is really the keyword they usually use because, they frame being reactive as a longstanding negative feature of China’s strategy toward the region.

So there’s been for a long time, something like ‘we should do more’. But actually, when they try to explain what ‘more’ actually means, this is where there’s no consensus at all. And basically where the debate is stuck.”

Andrea Ghiselli (T.wai & University of Exeter) and Mohammed Alsudairi (Australian National University) are interviewed in the episode “China and the Middle East: The Future in Three Scenarios” of The China-Global South Podcast.