4/22/2015

Chinas Xi To Make First Middle East Trip | The Diplomat

China's Xi To Make First Middle East Trip

Chinas president will travel to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Indonesia this April.
By Mu Chunshan
March 26, 2015
1.2k Shares
1 Comment

In April, Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit the Middle East and Pakistan; he will also visit Indonesia to celebrates the 60th
anniversary of the Bandung Conference. There are four things observers should pay attention to during this trip.
First, this will be Xis first time visiting the Middle East since becoming Chinas top leader. His choice of stops Egypt and Saudi
Arabia demonstrates how important these countries are to China.
Looking back at previous leaders choices for Middle East visits, we can see different priorities. Jiang Zemin visited Israel,
Palestine, Egypt, and Turkey in April 2000. Jiangs trip made him the first (and up till now, the only) Chinese head of state to
visit the Israel-Palestine region, which is so crucial to Middle East issues. Jiangs visit embodied the importance he placed on the
Middle East. From a political perspective, Jiang tried to show that China was becoming involved in the Middle East question, in
the mold of a great power.
Hu Jintao visited the Middle East three times: in 2004, 2006, and 2009. In 2004, he visited Egypt; in 2006 and 2009 he visited
Saudi Arabia. From this, we can see that Egypt and Saudi Arabia have taken on a critical role for implementing Chinas Middle
East policy. They had also become important political and economic partners for China.
In Chinas political rhetoric, Egypt is a major regional power and a leading country in the Arab world. Generally, any Chinese
data:text/html;charset=utf-8,%3Ch1%20class%3D%22postTitle%22%20itemprop%3D%22name%22%20style%3D%22color%3A%20rgb(0%2C%200%2C%200)%3B%20font-size%3A%2024px%3B%20font-weight

1/3

4/22/2015

Chinas Xi To Make First Middle East Trip | The Diplomat

leader who visits the Middle East will stop in Egypt. Although political unrest in Egypt has somewhat weakened its international
image, the Arab League is still headquartered there, giving Egypt irreplaceable political symbolism.
Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, is Chinas most important source of oil in the Middle East, as well as a heavyweight in the bloc of Gulf
monarchies. Saudi Arabias political and economic influences make its one of Chinas most critical partners, not just in the Middle
East but in the broader West Asia-North Africa region.
For Xis upcoming trip, his first to the Middle East, hes chosen Egypt and Saudi Arabia as destinations. That represents the
continuation and further development of Chinas Middle East policy. At the same time, Xis trip also represents the importance
China places on Middle East affairs, based on a firm determination to safeguard Chinas interests.
Just before Xis trip, Saudi Arabia and Egypt began airstrikes against anti-government forces in Yemen. The Sunni-majority
Arab states and Shia-majority Iran all have good relations with China. If competition between the two sides gets worse, it will be
important to watch how China remains balanced.
One more point worth stressing: after Xis trip to the Middle East, Chinas top leader will have visited virtually every important
region in the world, thus completing arrangements for Chinas global diplomacy.
Second, April will mark Xis first visit to Pakistan after a planned visit in September of last year had to be postponed. That gives
a special meaning to this trip.
In a rarity, China postponed Xis visit to Pakistan last year, meaning Xis tour of South Asia took him to India but not Pakistan.
China and Indias friendly rhetoric grew stronger and stronger, naturally causing some consternation in Pakistan, which used
every occasion to exhort Xi to visit as soon as possible. After mutual discussions, the two sides finally settled on early 2015 as
the basic timeline for a visit. Pakistan has historically served as Chinas bridgehead in West and South Asia. Xis visit will warm
up this all-weather friendship and show Chinas support for Pakistans efforts in anti-terrorism and economic development.
One of the major questions for this visit is whether or not leaders will discuss the fairly sensitive questions of the East Turkestan
Islamic Movement (ETIM), a terrorist group that seeks to split Xinjiang from China.
Previously, U.S. media leaked Chinese demands for Pakistan to crack down on ETIM forces within its borders. Reports also said
that local military forces in Pakistan had different ideas, leading Chinese officials to privately voice their dissatisfaction.
Moreover, in November 2014, former Afghan National Security Advisor Rangin Spanta said that Afghanistans intelligence
agency has arrested ETIM terrorists fighting in Afghanistan and handed them over to the Chinese government. But these
terrorists didnt receive their training in Afghanistan they were all trained in Pakistan or Uzbekistan, according to Spanta.
data:text/html;charset=utf-8,%3Ch1%20class%3D%22postTitle%22%20itemprop%3D%22name%22%20style%3D%22color%3A%20rgb(0%2C%200%2C%200)%3B%20font-size%3A%2024px%3B%20font-weight

2/3

4/22/2015

Chinas Xi To Make First Middle East Trip | The Diplomat

Third, as Xi goes to Indonesia for the Bandung Conference, hell be advancing Chinas multilateral diplomacy. He will have
various types of meetings and talks, including possible discussions with both South Korean President Park Geun-hye and
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. This sort of diplomatic contact would warm up regional trends while also openly pushing
forward bilateral ties between the countries involved. If Xi and Abe meet, their photograph together might be a bit more
cheerful than their photo from the APEC summit lately there have been signs of easing tensions in the China-Japan
relationship.
Additionally, this broad gathering of Asian and African countries will make the West see that rising countries struggle for and
influence over international agenda-setting is growing stronger each day. Xis contact with other leaders of rising powers will
send two clear signals to the West: first, the power of China and other rising countries cannot be ignored, and second, China has
friends all over the world.
The Bandung Conference will probably involve documents voicing support for Palestine, which China will likely endorse. This is
another opportunity for China to show its deep concern for Middle East issues on the international stage.
Fourth, all of Xis destinations on this trip will be Muslim countries as well as important partners for China to develop its one
belt, one road strategy. This reflects an important fact regarding Chinas new strategy of the countries either on directly on
the one belt, one road routes or otherwise part of the strategy, many have serious ideological differences with China. Some of
these countries are seeing a rising trend of Islamic extremism. China must think carefully about this when promoting its one
belt, one road strategy, in order to safeguard its security and economic interests. China should not be passive about such issues.
Economic and strategic cooperation relating to the one belt, one road strategy will certainly be an important topic of discussion
during Xis trip to these countries.

data:text/html;charset=utf-8,%3Ch1%20class%3D%22postTitle%22%20itemprop%3D%22name%22%20style%3D%22color%3A%20rgb(0%2C%200%2C%200)%3B%20font-size%3A%2024px%3B%20font-weight

3/3