In the Middle East, China has always been regarded as a new foreigner to face local political and security challenges.In the past few decades, China has grown in economy in the Middle East, and its role in this region has gradually become an increasingly important participant.

With the rise of China, the overseas interests have further expanded, especially China's demand for energy and the layout of the Belt and Road Initiative. From the middle and long term, China will become an important factor affecting the stability and political dynamics of the Middle East region.A new round of tensions in the Middle East. Although China's national interests are facing many risks in the Middle East, the international crisis is often the best time for the strategic layout of large powers.

China's key interests in the Middle East.The Chinese government's speech on Arabic national policy documents and Chinese President Xi Jinping's first trip to the Middle East has initially outlined China's Chinese vision in this region., Promote international capacity cooperation and strengthen the field of cooperation.

Judging from the cooperation model of China and the Arab countries and the West Asian sector where the Middle East is located, China's key interests in the Middle East can be summarized as:

The first is energy as the core interest.In 2015, China has become the world's largest crude oil importer.For many years, China has been the main buyers of oil and natural gas in the Middle East. More than 40%of oil exports to China in the Middle East.

The second is that the Belt and Road project has become the new bond.The Belt and Road project has not only played an important role in China's improvement and countries in the Middle East, but also has become the largest trading partner country in the Middle East in recent years.

Third, China ’s important connection belt for Africa.The Middle East is located in West Asia, adjacent to North Africa, and is on an important node in the Belt and Road Initiative of China. It is also an important area for China to enter and Africa from water and Lu Jingxi.

Risk faced by Chinese interests

A new round of tensions appear in the Middle East, which will inevitably affect China's interests in the Middle East, and there are two major risks in two aspects.

The first is that energy supply is constrained.After the relationship between the United States and Iran was tense, Iran was attacked in many places in Iran.If the situation intensifies, not only the energy output is sharp, but the transportation channel will also be affected.China's rapid development of energy relying on energy is very high. It is the world's largest energy input country, and nearly half of the energy comes from the Middle East. Once tensions occur in the Middle East, China's energy supply is a very big problem.

The second is that the security of trade, investment and personnel is not guaranteed.China's interests in the Middle East are basically under the U.S. umbrella.In the context of the Sino -US trade war, China ’s interests in the Middle East are not affected by the United States. Even if they are lucky, let alone the protection of the United States.The situation is turbulent, and the normal trade between China and the Middle East will be affected. At the same time, many Belt and Road projects are either stagnated or safe.

The personal safety of Chinese citizens is even more worrying.Since 2006, although the Chinese government has three large -scale withdrawal of overseas Chinese in the Middle East, it mainly uses private forces to organize withdrawal.Although the organization was successful and no casualties, the process of withdrawal from the withdrawal overseas was evacuated without any military forces.

In the 1990s, after the United States launched the Persian Gulf War, the US military achieved an advantage in the Middle East. With the completion of the regional framework in the United States in this region, further consolidating the absolute advantage in the region and maintaining a long -term advantage strategic situation.Any other countries' interests in the Middle East run under the framework they constructed.After the Cold War, Yichao's international pattern determined the strategic pattern of the Middle East and also shaped the way of contact between China and the Middle East.

In 2013, China first proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, and gradually organized the network and completed the layout. The Middle East became an important connection belt in the Belt and Road European direction, and it was also an important node for the Belt and Road Africa.China must continue to maintain a follow -up strategy in the Middle East, and at this time, the United States has implemented strategic shrinkage in the Middle East.The United States first withdrawn from the Iranian nuclear agreement, but lacked a clear regional alternative policy, and then announced that it was withdrawn from Syria. This is the obvious signal of Washington's decline in the Middle East.This time the United States faced the tension of the Middle East and did not issue it. Although there were elections, they did not want to be trapped in the Middle East for a long time.

More importantly, countries in the Middle East feel that the United States has the intention of drawing from the Middle East, and also hopes that China can provide more public products for the Middle East, and is committed to the development and stability of the Middle East.In this context, China has a good opportunity to benefit people and people, and should play a greater role in the security and social development of the Middle East, which will have a significant impact on the Middle East strategic pattern and even the international pattern.

At present, China has formed a global partnership with countries in the Middle East, not a strategic relationship.With the further development of economic and trade and the sharp increase in energy demand, and an opportunity for the new round of the Middle East chaos to bring strategic adjustment, it also requires China to adjust its Middle East strategy.The transformation of geopolitical strategies to geopolitical strategies; the second is to strengthen the existence of the Middle East military and provide necessary strategic support for the interests of China in the Middle East and North Africa.

The strategic adjustment of the Middle East China must be based on the current goals and long -term goals of the country in the Middle East, combining the needs of China's own interests, to avoid replication and intervention in Western countries to promote regional stability through peaceful development.

On the one hand, China must promote the world to continue to develop in a multi -polar direction, promote the diversity of development in the Middle East, and resist unilateralism and hegemonism. On the other hand, we must establish long -term geopolitical partners in the Middle East to ensure and expand China in the Middle East.Geopolical interests.

(The author is a researcher at the Hong Kong Tianda Research Institute)