Rising China Plants a Flag in the Middle East

Early last month, there was an extraordinary announcement. Saudi Arabia and Iran had agreed to resume diplomatic relations after seven years of more or less open hostility. Even more extraordinary was the person standing between the Iranian and Saudi foreign ministers, Wang Yi, China's most senior foreign policy official. His statement that day said it all: "This is a victory for dialogue, a victory for peace, major positive news for a world, which is currently so turbulent and restive. And it sends a clear signal."

It was also a victory for China’s rise as a great global power. The United States has shaped Middle Eastern geopolitics—for better and for worse—since Henry Kissinger’s shuttle diplomacy in the 70s. But long-time American client Saudi Arabia recognized that only China could deliver Iran to the negotiating table and, perhaps, assure its future good behavior at least vis-à-vis the Saudis.

What does it all mean? A new Middle Eastern order? The end of the Sunni-Shia conflict? Will the new relationship between Iran and Saudi Arabia last? And, what about Israel, not mentioned in the Beijing press conference, but obviously the 800-pound gorilla in the room?

The conceit of this podcast is New Thinking for a New World, which certainly describes what was announced in Beijing. Yasmine Farouk is a student of Middle Eastern diplomacy, focused on Saudi Arabia and the Arab Gulf. She is a non-resident scholar in the Middle East program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Listen as she discusses the implications of this revolutionary development.