The Convergence of Differences: Russia and China in the Middle East and North Africa

This chapter reviews Russia and China’s engagement with the Middle East and North Africa (mena) since the 1990s. In the early post-Cold War context, Rus- sia and China had quite different footholds and postures in the region because of resource endowment, domestic development and foreign policy trajecto- ries. However, during the 2000s the combination between rising investments in the region and the perception of Western failures, or outright hostility, de- veloped into political cooperation between Moscow and Beijing in supporting the “stability” and “sovereignty” of existing regimes, whatever their founda- tions and features. Such development accelerated since the Arab Uprising of 2011 and was welcomed by local elites in their struggle to survive social upheav- als and political crisis across the region, as well as against uncertainties over Western policies. On the background of the review of the existing literature and the analysis of official statistics, the two countries are analysed and compared along the topics of economy and diplomacy in order to assess the factors for cooperation as well as competition in the region.