Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, The University of Hong Kong

Over the past decade, China has been establishing access to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region through infrastructure projects and trade development. The MENA is considered a crucial area in China’s foreign policy. This rapidly growing relationship has had significant geopolitical implications, particularly in the context of the rivalry between major powers such as the United States, China, the European Union, and Russia. We argue that China’s approach to establishing influence in the MENA region differs from the West’s: thus far, it has focused on economic incentives and developmental projects rather than military and political tools. Shifting away from the traditional focus on great power and middle power, we propose to combine role theory with the concept of social power, to analyze China-MENA engagement in the 2020s.