China's Middle East Policy: What Next?

OUR SPEAKERS:

Dr Alessandro Arduino

Dr Alessandro Arduino is Principal Research Fellow of the Middle East Institute at the National University of Singapore. He is Co-Director of the Security & Crisis Management programme at the Shanghai Academy of Social Science (SASS-UNITO) and external affiliate at the Lau China Institute, King’s College London. He has also authored multiple books and is a regular contributor to journals in Italian, English and Chinese languages, such as China Weekly and the Institute of World Economy and Politics (IWEP). Dr Arduino has a specific interest in Belt & Road Initiative security, cybersecurity, private military security companies, sovereign wealth funds, China’s political economy in Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.

Dr Degang Sun

Dr. Degang Sun is Professor and Deputy Director of the Middle East Studies Institute, Shanghai International Studies University, China and is currently a senior visiting research at the Middle East Centre of St Antony’s College, University of Oxford and Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. Before this, he was a post-doctoral research at the Center for American Studies at Fudan University. His research interest covers International Security Theory, Middle East Security and US Middle East policy. His research focuses on major powers’ Middle East policy, Middle East history and security. He has published three books and more than a dozen articles in leading journals in China and abroad.

Jonathan Fulton

Jonathan Fulton is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Zayed University, in Abu Dhabi, UAE. His teaching and research interests focus on China’s relations with the Arab Gulf monarchies, international relations of the Persian Gulf, and international relations of East Asia. He received his PhD in International Relations from the University of Leicester, UK, where his dissertation focused on China’s relations with the Gulf Cooperation Council member states. He has written widely on China-Middle East relations for both academic and popular publications. He is the author of the China’s Relations with the Gulf Monarchies and co-editor of External Power and the Gulf Monarchies.

Anoush Ehteshami

Professor Anoush Ehteshami is Professor of International Relations in the School of Government and International Affairs and Director of the Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at Durham University. He is also the Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah Chair in International Relations and Director of the HH Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah Programme in International Relations, Regional Politics and Security. He acts as Co-director of the AHRC-funded Open Worlds Initiative entitled Cross-Language Dynamics: Reshaping Community. Previously, he was Vice-President and Chair of Council of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies and served as a Fellow of the World Economic Forum. He has authored and contributed to multiple books and journals on the Middle East, including a 2019 book entitled How China’s Rise is Changing the Middle East.