Muhamad S. Olimat, China and the Middle East: From Silk Road to Arab Spring

摘要

Muhamad Olimat's book on China's relations with the Middle East is an important contribution to the under-researched relationship between the Middle Kingdom and the kingdoms and republics of the Middle East. The book begins with an historical overview of China's relations with the region, documenting the extensive cooperation that flowed along the Silk Road trade routes. He notes that China's relations with the Muslim peoples of Central Asia and the Middle East (China's own Muslims aside), has been relatively peaceful, save for the Battle of the Talas River (in today's Kyrgyzstan) in 751 between China's Tang Dynasty and the Arab Abbasids. With the help of Uighur and Tibetan armies, the Arabs won. Peace followed, and in the colonial and post-colonial eras, the two civilizations found much common cause in anti-imperialism and anti-colonialism. More recently, with its astronomical growth rates China has "gone out" looking for resources and trade partners, and at the time of writing, 43 % of China's oil imports came from the Middle East. China's crude oil imports (barrels/day in thousands in 2010) are ranked as follows: Saudi Arabia (893), Angola (788), Iran (426), Oman (317), Russia (284), Sudan (252), Iraq (225), Kuwait (197), Kazakhstan (184), Brazil (151), and Libya (148) (p48). Despite Beijing's recent attempts to diversify its oil sourcing and escape the "Malacca dilemma," Olimat notes that the Middle East will continue to figure largely in China's future economic and strategic plans.