Special Report in China:

How the Gulf can win the US-China geopolitics game BY CALINE MALEK

Page 57.  

On the other side of the spectrum, Dr Tugrul Keskin, a professor and director of the Centre for Global Governance at Shanghai University, believes the US has started to use a ‘Cold War’-like strategy towards China and would like to contain the country. “This is a mistake,” he says. “China is not trying to dominate the world, like the US in the second half of the 20th century and British imperialism in the 19th and early 20th century. China is not a hegemon at this stage.” Dr Keskin believes there is a need for China and the US to collaborate further on global governance rather than create escalating issues for themselves. “This will benefit the GCC as well as the world in general. Restructuring Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen is beneficial to the US and China, especially on security, market, trade, development and fighting against radicalism.” With China expected to become the world’s largest economy by 2025, Dr Keskin expresses optimism in regards to its economic future, describing the country’s economic activities in the region as very positive. “Social activities between the GCC and China should be developed, such as investing in education, cultural exchanges, translating novels from Arabic to Chinese, Chinese to Arabic, and others. Smart diplomacy is part of a people-to-people exchange; therefore, Chinese and Arabs should reconnect culturally and socially in order to have more economic activities. This has been happening on both sides in the last few years.”

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