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Justine Salam / Hany Besada
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SBE, Vol.20, No.1, 2017
ISSN 1818-1228
©Copyright 2017/College of Business and Economics,
Qatar University
wish to increase tensions at the international
level and has been trying to follow its own
agenda and chose a detached and unimposing
take on foreign policy. Its conventional
approach as a growing superpower has been
unobtrusive, opting to avoid involvement
in any nation’s political affairs but its own,
and mostly concentrating on trade relations
and investment agreements. This is in stark
contrast to the historically more forceful nature
of Western economies’ involvement globally.
After colonialism was over, the West took to
democracy and capitalism as its respective
political and economic models. Their
implementation became perceived as recurring
items on the agenda when a Western nation was
involved with a MENA nation. While trying to
gain, regain, or maintain security of its own
economic interests and political influence
abroad, military intervention was increasingly
used by the United States, particularly in the
Middle East. In effect, the West demanded that
certain political and economic conditions be
met with regards to the rule of law and good
governance in exchange for formal relations,
whereas China’s approach has been virtually
unrestricted with regard to a regime’s own
affairs, and has been, for the most part, strictly
about business. The relevance of China’s
presence in the MENA is crucial at such a
rapidly changing and interconnected world,
and the nature of its foreign policy will have
to evolve with it. For now, China’s energy
security policy—although aggressive—has
been successful; time will tell whether China
will be subtle enough to avoid conflict in the
MENA region.