China in the Mideast

Visitors check weapons during the International Defence Exhibition Idex 2025, on February 17, 2025, in Abu Dhai. (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP) (Photo by FADEL SENNA/AFP via Getty Images)

China's defense companies out in full force at UAE's IDEX: What to know

China sent 59 defense and technology companies to the International Defense Exhibition and Conference and the Naval Defense and Maritime Security Exhibition in Abu Dhabi this week.

United Arab Emirates

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman

Amid DeepSeek competition, Altman visits UAE seeking OpenAI investment

Gulf investors are betting big on AI, with sovereign wealth funds in the UAE and Saudi Arabia making the booming tech sector a core component of their portfolios.

United Arab Emirates

Analysis

China’s DeepSeek triumph sparks billion-dollar AI dilemmas for Gulf investors

Middle Eastern countries could benefit from new cost-effective AI systems such as those created by DeepSeek in lieu of US AI companies.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

An oil tanker unloads imported crude oil at Qingdao port in China's eastern Shandong province on May 9, 2022. (AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

How China could complicate Trump's Middle East calculus

From Iran to Yemen, China could derail Trump’s efforts to rein Tehran, punish the Houthis and promote American manufacturing.

Joyce Karam

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional geopolitics, China in the Middle East

Latest News

Iran’s foreign minister lands in China amid regional and domestic turmoil

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi looks on during a meeting between the top diplomats of Iraq, Syria and Iran at the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, in Baghdad, on Dec. 6, 2024.

Analysis

Why China’s new ambassador to Israel marks shift in Middle East focus

China's President Xi Jinping (R) and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands ahead of their talks at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on March 21, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / Etienne Oliveau (Photo credit should read ETIENNE OLIVEAU/AFP via Getty Images)

Yun Sun

In Washington, DC, reporting on China-Middle East ties

Analysis

China seeks to protect Syria interests, work with HTS on Uyghur 'threats'

A man rides his scooter past a destroyed mosque and apartment buildings in Harasta, near the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Dec. 19, 2024.

Sabena Siddiqui

By Sabena Siddiqui

In Karachi, reporting on South Asia, Middle East, Iran

Analysis

How will Trump's return affect US-Middle East-China strategic triangle?

BEIJING, CHINA - NOVEMBER 9: Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump attend a welcoming ceremony November 9, 2017 in Beijing, China. Trump is on a 10-day trip to Asia. (Photo by Thomas Peter-Pool/Getty Images)

Dale Aluf

In Amsterdam, reporting on China in the Middle East

Visiting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (R) and his wife, Asma, (C) visit the Great Wall near Beijing, on June 22, 2004, during the Middle East leader's first full day in the Chinese capital.

Analysis

In Syria, China not beholden to Assad but alarmed over Uyghur links to HTS

While Assad's regional policies were in semblance with China’s when it came to supporting the Palestinians, defying US policy and shoring up ties with Iran, it was Bashar’s cronyism, his mishandling of the war and the economy that made him less of a strategic asset for Beijing.

Joyce Karam

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional geopolitics, China in the Middle East

Senior Iranian and Chinese officials held talks in Tehran on expanding bilateral ties in various areas, particularly in the economic field.

Senior China delegation in Iran to discuss 'strategic partnership,' economic ties

Iran hosted a Chinese delegation on Tuesday and Wednesday in a step to solidify a 2021 strategic partnership agreement, but can the two countries’ partnership weather the upcoming Donald Trump presidency?

A man watches stock movements on a display at the Dubai Financial Market stock exchange in the Gulf emirate on April 12, 2022.

China embraces debt listings to tap into Gulf’s pool of wealth

As UAE stock markets hit $1 trillion in market capitalization for the first time last week, an increasing number of Chinese entities are choosing to list some of their debt on Gulf capital markets.

Sebastian Castelier

By Sebastian Castelier

In Dubai, reporting on regional business

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 20: President Donald Trump (R) holds up a chart of military hardware sales as he meets with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the Oval Office at the White House on March 20, 2018 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images)

Analysis

Saudi Arabia to pursue two-track approach for Trump presidency

Riyadh is likely to compartmentalize business dealings with incoming President Donald Trump separately from its foreign policy engagements, where there is likely to be disagreement.

Jennifer Gnana

By Jennifer Gnana

In Dubai, reporting on Gulf energy policy and politics

Xi Jinping president of China waves during the first working session as part of the G20 summit 2024 at Museu de Arte Moderna on Nov. 18, 2024, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

China's Xi Jingping in Morocco as Beijing eyes bigger role in Africa's infrastructure boom

Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Morocco on Thursday as China wades deeper into Morocco's transportation and EV industries.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (shakes hands with Saudi Arabian Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud at the G20 Summit on Sept. 4, 2016, in Hangzhou, China.

Saudi Arabia, Iran, China slam Israel at Riyadh meeting: What we know

The China-Saudi Arabia-Iran Trilateral Joint Committee met for the second time in the Saudi capital, more than a year after the Chinese-brokered deal that resumed relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

A delgation of Afghanistan's Taliban movement attends a session of the peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban in the Qatari capital Doha, on July 17, 2021. (Photo by KARIM JAAFAR / AFP) (Photo by KARIM JAAFAR/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Is Trump-Taliban reset possible to counter China's Afghanistan influence?

How — or whether — President-elect Donald Trump will diplomatically engage with the Taliban remains to be seen.

Sabena Siddiqui

By Sabena Siddiqui

In Karachi, reporting on South Asia, Middle East, Iran

MAXIM SHIPENKOV/AFP via Getty Images

BRICS offers Turkey 'partner country' status, Turkish trade minister says

The Turkish trade minister stopped short of clarifying whether Ankara accepted the offer or not.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman (C) inspects a guard of honour during a ceremonial reception at the President House a day after the G20 summit in New Delhi on September 11, 2023. (Photo by Money SHARMA / AFP) (Photo by MONEY SHARMA/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

What to make of Saudi-Iranian flurry of diplomatic activity, military channels?

A high-level military meeting between Saudi Arabia and Iran on Sunday marked another in a series of recent diplomatic engagements between the two nations.

By Rosaleen Carroll

In Washington, DC, US, reporting on the Middle East

Trump China

Analysis

China not surprised by Donald Trump's win, sees Middle East opening

Trump's expected heavy focus on conflicts and hostility to Iran, grant China an opening when it comes to international diplomacy and expanding its ties in the Middle East.

Joyce Karam

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional geopolitics, China in the Middle East

US President Donald Trump (L) speaks with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (C) as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (R), Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (2nd R) and Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May smile during a family photo session at the G20 Summit in Osaka on June 28, 2019. (Photo by KIM KYUNG-HOON / POOL / AFP) (Photo credit should read KIM KYUNG-HOON/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Beyond congratulations, Trump faces changed, eastward-looking Gulf

Gulf states are familiar with Donald Trump and his transactional nature but have also managed to forge their own regional alliances over the last four years.

Jennifer Gnana

By Jennifer Gnana

In Dubai, reporting on Gulf energy policy and politics

Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event on food security in a barn on the Smith Family Farm on September 23, 2024 in Smithton, Pennsylvania. The event, hosted by the Protecting America Initiative, led by former Trump acting director of national intelligence Richard Grenell, highlighted China ownership of nearly 250,000 acres of U.S. land, slightly less than 1% of foreign-held acreage. (Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

Analysis

In Middle East, China's influence unconstrained by Trump, Harris

In theory, Beijing may favor the predictability of Harris over the uncertainty of Trump. But in practice, China did exceedingly well in the Middle East during Trump’s presidency and has successfully navigated challenges under the Biden-Harris administration

Joyce Karam

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional geopolitics, China in the Middle East