China's Persian Gulf Diplomacy

The Centre for Chinese Studies at Stellenbosch University published in December 2014 a study titled "Navigating the Gulf: China's Balancing Strategy" by Mandira Bagwandeen, analyst for the Asia Pacific Region at Salamanca Group in South Africa. 

The author argues that China has sought to improve relations with Persian Gulf nations such as Iran because the region contains a large share of the world's proven oil reserves.  Iran's pursuit of nuclear capabilities has complicated China's diplomacy.

China's Strategic Shift Towards the Middle East and Western Indian Ocean

Christina Lin, visiting scholar at the Center for Global Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of California, Irvine, published in the Spring 2013 issue of Middle East Review of International Affairs an article titled "China's Strategic Shift Toward the Region of the Four Seas: The Middle Kingdom Arrives in the Middle East." 

The author argues that China is aligning with states that have problematic relations with West and are also geo-strategically placed on the littoral of the "Four Seas"--the Caspian Sea, Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and Arabian Sea/Persian Gulf.  She adds that China's pivot to this area threatens to outflank the citadel of American geo-strategies in the region.