Title: The Chinese presence in the Arab region: Lebanon at the heart of the Belt and Road Initiative

Authors: Mohamad Zreik

Addresses: School of Politics and International Studies (SPIS), Central China Normal University, Luoyu Road, Wuhan, Hubei, 430079, China

Abstract: In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to revive the ancient Silk Road. China uses new information technology and advanced equipment to implement projects, and the Chinese administration has allocated huge sums for the smooth running of the proposed projects. The Chinese administration has recently raised its relations with the Arab region to take advantage of its strategic geographic location along the land and sea routes for the initiative and to reach Arab oil due to increasing Chinese consumption. In this paper, the researcher used qualitative descriptive analysis to explain the bilateral relationship in-depth and understand the Belt and Road Initiative in the Arab region. The paper concluded Lebanon's important role in the smooth running of the initiative in the Arab region. The Lebanese role will not be effective without the official decision to partner with China.

Keywords: Belt and Road Initiative; Chinese Foreign Policy; Sino-Arab relations; Sino-Lebanese relations; economic cooperation; China; Lebanon.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBSR.2022.125477

International Journal of Business and Systems Research, 2022 Vol.16 No.5/6, pp.644 - 662

Received: 09 Jan 2021
Accepted: 17 Mar 2021
Published online: 12 Sep 2022 *

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