Is the Middle East looking to China?
Ben Simpfendorfer sees evidence that the Middle East is looking approvingly at the "China model" of development:
To be fair, China has fewer ethnic problems relative to the Middle East. Ninety-two percent of its population is Han Chinese. Its largest minority, the Zhuang Chinese, account for a little over one percent. That makes it easier to delay questions of political identity than it would be for either Iraq or Syria.
Nonetheless, China illustrates that it is possible to leave the tough questions until later. I raised just this point at the Arab Thought Foundationâ??s conference noting that Taiwanese investors have built factories on the mainland not far from the Chinese missile silos pointing back at Taiwan.
It might that some countries are already learning. Syria, for instance, has pushed ahead with economic reform even if political reform remains stagnant. President Assad has talked of the â??China Experimentâ?, and Syrian officials have made study trips to China to learn more about its success.
The Chinese are also bringing their pragmatism to the Middle East. Haixin, for instance, is an air-conditioning company that has recently built a factory near Cairo. I remain hopeful that others will follow, ignoring the regionâ??s complex political problems that are more likely to deter Western companies.
It would be wrong to only praise China. Its pragmatism could equally be labeled mercantilism. As an Arab observer, based in China, recently wrote in Al Sharq Al Awsat, â??a mentality of profit rules over Chinese officialsâ?, and that for all Chinaâ??s talk of increasing its imports from the Middle East, little has been achieved.
