Viewpoint
08.14.17
China is Forcing Uighurs Abroad to Return Home. Why Aren’t More Countries Refusing to Help?
The campaign began quietly. Students studying abroad were told to return home. Many did, and their classmates didn’t hear from them afterwards. For those who needed extra incentive to get moving, police detained their families back home. Finally,...
The China Africa Project
03.31.17
China Spends Billions in Egypt to Woo the Middle East
Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz’s recent state visit to Beijing is the latest evidence that China is maneuvering to play a bigger role in the Middle East and Persian Gulf. The two countries reportedly signed deals worth upwards of $65 billion during...
The China Africa Project
12.25.16
China’s Risky Power Play in the Arab World
International Relations Professor Zaynab El Bernoussi from Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco, joins Eric and Cobus this week to discuss her recent column on China’s growing influence in the Middle East and North Africa. Professor El...
The China Africa Project
03.14.16
Africa’s Role in China’s One Belt, One Road Global Trade Strategy
China’s lofty ambition to revive its ancient silk road trading routes is now becoming a reality. When complete, One Belt, One Road (OBOR), or the Maritime Silk Road as it is more commonly known, will connect China via rail and shipping links with...
The China Africa Project
02.11.16
China’s Risky Gamble to Become a Major Player in the Middle East and North Africa
Chinese president Xi Jinping’s three-country tour of the Middle East and North Africa offers yet another example of Beijing’s expanding drive for increased global influence. During his first visit to the region, Xi traveled to Saudi Arabia, Egypt,...
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09.16.15China Trying to Undercut Germany on Submarine Offer to Egypt
Reuters
Beijing looks to expand weapons exports beyond its traditional customer base in Asia.
ChinaFile Recommends
08.07.15Learning to Speak Lingerie: Chinese Merchants and the Inroads of Globalization
New Yorker
All told, along a three-hundred-mile stretch, I found twenty-six Chinese lingerie dealers: four in Sohag, twelve in Asyut, two in Mallawi, six in Minya, and two in Beni Suef. It was like mapping the territory of large predator cats: in the Nile...
Video
06.02.14
Cairo in Chinese
When Shen Yitong left her home in China to study French at Cairo University in 2008, she didn’t know that she would come to think of Egypt as a second home, or that she would see revolution come upon the country so suddenly. Her parents came from...
Media
09.18.13
For Chinese, Violence in the Middle East Sparks Debate on Democracy, Stability
Recent months have been rocky for the Middle East: harsh crackdowns on protesters in Egypt and a Rashomon-like scenario in which the Syrian government and the rebels have accused each other of using chemical weapons, just to name a few. The region’s...
Sinica Podcast
07.12.13
Ripples from the Egyptian Revolution
from Sinica Podcast
In Egypt in 2011, what was by all accounts a free and fair democratic election resulted in the victory of Mohammed Morsi, a controversial figure whose brief rule ended last week after being overthrown by the Egyptian military. With Western media...
Media
05.29.13
The Graffiti Seen ‘Round the World
It’s tourist season the world over: let the shenanigans begin. After a young Chinese tourist’s defacement of an ancient Egyptian temple was photographed and shared online, the harsh backlash has gone viral in China’s blogosphere. Tea Leaf Nation...
ChinaFile Recommends
08.29.12Jasmine in Beijing: Belated Blossoms
Economist
In the words of a senior foreign policy adviser to the Chinese government, the official attitude towards the Arab Spring can be summed up very simply: “Ever since it started, all they want is to keep it as far away from China as possible.”
The NYRB China Archive
03.24.11How China Fears the Middle East Revolutions
from New York Review of Books
Chinese authorities have done what they can to stop news—and worse, from their point of view, any influence—of Tunisian and Egyptian people-power from spreading to China. They have been worrying especially about what social media like Twitter and...
Sinica Podcast
02.18.11
Turmoil in Egypt and Groupon
from Sinica Podcast
Welcome back to Sinica after our New Year’s break. And what could headline our first podcast of the New Year but Egypt, where an unexpected political uprising has raised obvious parallels for China-watchers worldwide. Moving beyond the politics of...