impossible for them to implement a “strategic decoupling” with China. With declining oil prices, a sluggish economy and the worsening Covid-19 crisis, countries in the Middle East rely on Asian powers who have a high demand for Middle East oil. Since the US and China share the same partners, third-party economic cooperation among the US, China and the Middle East, particularly in investments on mega-projects are promising.

Third, Sino-US cooperation in high-tech is crucial as well. China and the US boast advanced and complementary technologies in outer space, artificial intelligence, bio-technology and telecommunication. Washington and Beijing both have various kinds of training programs for Middle East human resources. Shenzhen BGI, a Chinese genetic firm, has contracts with the UAE and Saudi Arabia for joint cooperation in combating Covid-19, but the US government declared BGI to be a bio-security threat to its allies, a “medical Huawei”. The US should not be repelled by China’s “Health Silk Road” initiative, proposed in recent years, and should not politicize medical research. Both the US and China are testing vaccines for Covid-19. Joint scientific and medical research among China, the US, and Middle East partners would be a win-win, crucial not only to Sino-US strategic trust, but also a great contribution to humanity.

 

Conclusion

China and the US are both geo-economic and geo-political powers, and the Middle East represents an ideal area for them to provide “public security and economic goods”. The Middle East faces increasing challenges, including weak states, failed regimes, prolonged civil wars, displaced refugees, radical groups, and proxy wars. Covid-19 and the subsequent low oil prices have worsened unemployment and economic recession. The Middle East may thus face more formidable turmoil.

China and the US should transcend their respective national interests for a shared future of humanity. They should curb the spillover effect of their competition from the Asia-Pacific to the Middle East. In fact, China’s influence is mostly in the economic domain, and it does not have the equivalent military power. China does not have substantial power projection capability in the Middle East, nor does it have the ambition to challenge the predominance of US leadership in the Middle East.

To conclude, the real danger lies not in the China-US rivalry, but in the deficit of public goods. China and the US, as economic and military superpowers respectively, should avoid repeating the mistakes made by the Soviet Union and the US during the Cold War, and they should bear their duties and sacred missions to avoid a new cold war. This remains crucial in order to foster peace and prosperity for all the people in the Middle East.

(Sun Degang,Professor.Institute of International Studies, Fudan University,Shanghai, China.)