ChinaMED Observer

Unsurprisingly, the Chinese media debate on the wider Mediterranean region was dominated by discussions on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s trip to Saudi Arabia between December 7-10. Besides paying a state visit to the Kingdom, Xi also attended the first China-Arab States Summit and the China-GCC Summit. As such, the Chinese President met leaders from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Palestine, Egypt...

With the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the 27-year natural gas deal signed by Beijing and Doha, and the preparations for President Xi Jinping’s early December trip to Saudi Arabia, it is not surprising that the Middle East dominates this issue of the ChinaMed Observer. Confirming what we wrote in the past, Qatar continues to be praised by Chinese commentators. Zou Zhiqiang, a scholar at...

October was a politically crucial month for China because of the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. The Congress reduced the level of attention paid by Chinese media to foreign events, including those in the wider Mediterranean region. This, however, is not the only reason why this month’s ChinaMed Observer is shorter than previous issues. Protests broke out in Tehran in...

In September, Chinese media did not publish many articles on the countries of the wider Mediterranean region, or on China’s relations with them. That said, those that were published reflect growing uncertainty regarding the situation in the region as a whole. A common motif in Chinese media discourse that we have often highlighted in past issues of the ChinaMed Observer is Chinese commentators...