The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) published in September 2024 a report titled "The Middle East's View of the 'China Model'" by Jon B. Alterman.
The CSIS Middle East Program researched Arab populations' desire for an alternative development model to the one proffered by Western states. The project focused on Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates.
The study concluded that China's Middle East strategy is focused on the United States, but China is not engaged in straightforward competition. China's strategy does not seek to replace the United States in the Middle East, push it out, or outcompete it. Instead, China is working to untie the Middle East from the United States and to make the region and world more receptive to China.
China will continue to seek to increase its role in the Middle East. The United States should not fear China's presence. Rather, Washington needs to sharpen regional understandings of the value of U.S. partnerships, lower the costs of maintaining them, and clarify the consequences of undermining them.
