China’s Business and Politics in the Middle East: Energy Security Approach
Abstract
This study aims to examine Chinese business and politics in the Middle East in order to investigate the following: What are China’s goals and interests in the Middle East? Does China have no other concerns outside pursuing economic interests in the region? The United States have critized China’s Middle East policy, arguing that China is simply pursuing energy interests there and acting egotistically to boost its own economic interests as huge “free rider.” Is China acting as a “free rider” in the Middle East? This study used a qualitative data collection method based on secondary data sources. The result and discussion showed that China is making efforts to protect its energy supply in in order to secure rapid growth and a peaceful Middle East. China’s key interests in the Middle East include energy security, geostrategic objectives, external connections to internal stability, and strengthened great power status. Beijing wants to control access to energy and other resources, counterbalance American influence without openly opposing it, discourage material and public support for China’s Uighur minority, and win formal and informal recognition from countries in the Middle East that it is a major power. Middle Eastern countries make up five of the top ten oil suppliers to China as of Auguts 2018, and Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Oman, and Kuwait account for the following percentages of China’s imports: 10.7% of the world GDP, 10.5% of Iraq’s, 7.8% of Iran, 7.4 of Oman, and 5.8% of Kuwait.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18415/ijmmu.v9i11.4344
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