Description
In the past two decades, China has rapidly emerged as an increasingly consequential economic,
political, and security actor in the Middle East. China is the largest consumer of Middle Eastern
oil, Chinese trade with the region has more than tripled over the past 20 years, and China is play-
ing an expanding role in regional peace, security, and diplomacy. Beijing’s strategy in the Mid-
dle East has emphasized a comprehensive plan to expand its influence in almost all key domains.
The next four years will be essential to China’s acceleration of its political, economic, and diplo-
matic engagement in the Middle East, with a strong focus on diversifying economic ties, involve-
ment in peace and mediation, and managing a regional power equilibrium that has shifted as the
result of the war in Gaza.
Yun Sun, is a nonresident fellow with the Africa Growth Initiative and the John L. Thornton China
Center at Brookings. She also serves as co-director of the East Asia Program and director of the
China Program at the Stimson Center. Her expertise is in Chinese foreign policy, U.S.-China
relations, and China’s relations with neighboring countries and authoritarian regimes. From 2011
to early 2014, she was a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, appointed by the Foreign
Policy Program and the Global Economy and Development Program, where she focused on
Chinese national security decision-making processes and China-Africa relations. From 2008 to
2011, Yun Sun was the China Analyst for the International Crisis Group (ICG) based in Beijing,
specializing on China’s policy towards conflict countries and the developing world. Prior to
ICG, she worked on U.S.-Asia relations in Washington, D.C. Her work is regularly cited by
Voice of America, Axios, and other prominent news outlets and publications. Yun Sun earned
her master’s degree in international policy and practice from George Washington University, as
well as an M.A. in Asia Pacific studies and a B.A. in international relations from Foreign Affairs Col-
lege in Beijing.
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