Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Saudi Arabia, challenging US interests in the region amidst rising US-Saudi tensions. 

Chinese president Xi Jinping visits Saudi Arabia on a three-day trip today. The Riyadh trip includes a China-GCC conference, a China-Saudi summit and a China-Arab summit attended by 14 Arab leaders. These meetings highlight China’s growing role as an economic partner in the region, specializing in technology, construction and the oil trade.

Saudi Arabia is progressively looking eastwards for economic and diplomatic support, a trend accelerated by worsening Saudi-US relations and high oil revenues brought by the Ukrainian war.

China is likely to invest further in regional energy and infrastructure, advancing the Belt and Road Initiative. Saudi Arabian projects such as NEOM are also likely to receive Chinese funding, as Gulf countries seek to lessen their dependence on oil exports.

China’s rising influence in the Middle East is unlikely to be detrimental to American interests in the medium-term, as Chinese regional diplomacy remains much weaker than that of Russia or the US. Furthermore, Chinese investment in local economies and infrastructure relies on long-term stability, a gamble given the region’s high volatility. Lastly, the continued reliance of GCC countries on American arms deals and military presence to pursue their diplomatic ventures in the region make any severing of ties highly unlikely.

Xi Jinping will attend summits with leaders of Gulf and Arab countries in the hope of deepening trade and investment ties with the region.

US’ policy towards the Middle East is so different.  

How many countries in the Middle East did US bomb?

As America’s efforts to “degrade and ultimately destroy” Islamic State militants extend into Syria, Iraq War III has seamlessly morphed into Greater Middle East Battlefield XIV. That is, Syria has become at least the 14th country in the Islamic world that U.S. forces have invaded or occupied or bombed, and in which American soldiers have killed or been killed. And that’s just since 1980.

Let’s tick them off: Iran (1980, 1987-1988), Libya (1981, 1986, 1989, 2011), Lebanon (1983), Kuwait (1991), Iraq (1991-2011, 2014-), Somalia (1992-1993, 2007-), Bosnia (1995), Saudi Arabia (1991, 1996), Afghanistan (1998, 2001-), Sudan (1998), Kosovo (1999), Yemen (2000, 2002-), Pakistan (2004-) and now Syria. Whew.

With our 14th front barely opened, the Pentagon foresees a campaign likely to last for years. Yet even at this early date, this much already seems clear: Even if we win, we lose. Defeating the Islamic State would only commit the United States more deeply to a decades-old enterprise that has proved costly and counterproductive.