The emerging defense pact with the United States, will be a decisive moment for Saudi Arabia and for broader Middle Eastern politics. Until it is ratified, the kingdom will likely strive to maintain defense partnerships with both the U.S. and China.

Many people in the West tend to view the expansion of China’s influence in the Middle East through the lens of great power rivalry. China rejects this concept, and its diplomatic efforts have helped to prevent the escalation of regional crises.

China is deeply intertwined with Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries. It is contributing to regional security and will be one of the major sources of the region’s future wealth. And, unlike the West, it will always respect the way of life in the region, including the dominant religion.

Sustainable peace in the Middle East — in particular between Israel and the Palestinians — will require meaningful change in Palestine’s status: Its sovereignty must be established and recognized. A unified push by China and the United States to that end would be an important guarantor of success.

The latest Palestinian-Israeli conflict has lasted four and a half months since its outbreak in October and resulted in nearly 30,000 Palestinian deaths, the destruction of nearly all infrastructure in the Gaza Strip and more than 2 million people left homeless, as well as a severe shortage of food, drinking water and medicine. The humanitarian disaster is intensifying with each passing day.

A New Cold War is not in the interest of either the U.S. or China, particularly given the volatility in the Middle East. In fact, the two nations share common interests in the region, and the threat of widespread conflict should inspire an element of strategic sobriety and tactical cooperation.

The latest round of the Israel-Hamas conflict has dragged the Israeli-Palestinian issue back to center stage in the Middle East. While China played a positive role in getting Iran and Saudi Arabia to the negotiating table, the violence in Gaza could influence the election prospects of U.S. President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party.

One should not answer the question through the lens of the China-U.S. rivalry. The two have many shared objectives, and from both a moral and national interest perspective, the conflict is a losing proposition — a disaster not only for the people of the Middle East but for all mankind.

Given the latest conflict and humanitarian crisis in the middle east, and the risk of the conflict expanding to involve other state actors throughout the region, Nathaniel Schochet and Earl Carr explore the possible opportunities, persistent limitations and the core geostrategic objectives of China’s mediation role in the 2023 Israel-Hamas War and elsewhere.

Despite massive aid, U.S. policies have failed to achieve peace in Israel, West Bank and Gaza, thus eroding U.S. credibility in the region. Why did U.S. policies fail? Could Chinese policies contribute to peace?