'Economically Aggressive Politically Soft' : Understanding China's Policy Toward the Arab World

The aim of this chapter is twofold. First, it overviews the development trends in bilateral trade between China and the Arab countries during the last three decades which witnessed a remarkable growth in trade and economic cooperation between the two sides. The second aim of this chapter is to critically analyze the China's diplomacy and political engagement in the region's hotspot issues to understand the motives, dynamics and trends in this involvement over time. The last section in this chapter contextualizes the conclusions from the previous sections and draws policy implications for promoting future cooperation between China and the Arab world and for enabling Arab countries to best address the challenges and capture the opportunities presented by the cooperation with China