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(Thread) This week I published two pieces on China's role as an investor and development partner in the Middle East. One for Bloomberg @bopinion: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-07-02/china-is-not-the-middle-east-s-high-roller
Beijing has claimed the mantle of a great power in the region without a commitment to wider economic development or security. Using data from @fDiMarkets and @AEI China Investment Tracker, comparing US and EU, China spends less and creates fewer jobs MENA. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-07-02/china-is-not-the-middle-east-s-high-roller
For @alMonitor, I argued that there is a false dichotomy in the "choice" between the US and China in the Middle East. https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/06/false-logic-china-us-choice-mideast-economic-political-power.html
The US has failed to make its own case in MENA, mostly because the current administration has undermined the importance of shared values and institutions that demonstrate its superior development model to China's and then failed to demonstrate empirically how it is better.
The plan to counter China has never been to do it alone. The Trump administration's failure to elevate and amplify its own strategy to rely on allies and shared institutions is an Achilles heel that China and adversaries like Russia see as an easy target. https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/06/false-logic-china-us-choice-mideast-economic-political-power.html#ixzz6R2ip2m3Y
