The Fundamental and Applied Studies of the Islamic World

Abstract The dramatic growth and sudden rise of China's economy on the one hand has increased its national power and on the other hand has strengthened "China-phobia" and presented a threatening image of it by the world powers. On the other hand, in order to counter this threatening image and neutralize the wave of "Sinophobia", the Chinese tried to present a peaceful and cooperative image of their country to the world by using the power strategy. . By relying on the capabilities and capacities of their country in various fields, the Chinese have given their power a "Chinese character" and tried to rebuild their image inside China and in international circles by applying power strategies. The main question of the article is what is the position of West Asia in China's power strategy and what resources does it use to achieve its goals in this region? In response to the main question, the paper's hypothesis is that power in its Chinese version had significant differences from Joseph Nye's original idea. In fact, the Chinese have imported the American version of power and adjusted, strengthened and, in other words, internalized it with their abilities, capacities and political philosophy.
The current research, by adopting the descriptive-analytical method and relying on library data, to understand and explain China's presence in West Asia, traces China's efforts in three areas: 1) In the cultural area: through the examination of strategies such as "use of educational tools and methods", "media methods" and "tourism industry"; 2) In the political field: through the examination of the policy of "balance of influence" and the policy of "mediation" and relying on the "ideological foundations of Confucianism" and 3) In the economic field: through the examination of the three tools of "energy exchanges", " Foreign Investments" and "Belt-Road Initiative".
The region of West Asia, which has long been a platform for competition between great powers, has been heavily focused on by Chinese policymakers in the last two decades. China has a special view on this region for various reasons, such as ensuring its energy security in order to maintain sustainable economic growth, and the special position of the West Asian region in the "Belt-Road" initiative. Therefore, China is seriously seeking to expand diplomatic relations with the countries of the region, and one of the most important tools for facilitating these relations is the use of power strategy and its tools in this region.
In West Asia, China's cultural power strategy is realized in three ways: 1) the use of educational tools and methods, 2) media methods and 3) the tourism industry. In line with the application of educational diplomacy, since the beginning of 2004, the Chinese government has made extensive investments in the creation of cultural and linguistic centers known as Confucian institutions in the world. These institutes, which operate in major universities around the world, are managed by Hanban (Office of the International Chinese Language Council, a branch of the Chinese Ministry of Education). Today, China has 17 Confucius Institutes and 5 Confucius Classes in West Asia. In line with media diplomacy, since China's goal is to gain fame and popularity and portray the world through power and confront the Western portrayal of this country, it has also internationalized its media. In 2009, China's state television started broadcasting news in Arabic with the launch of the International Arabic Channel (CCTV), which is now called CGTN. In addition, China Today publishes its Arabic edition in West Asia, which informs its readers about world affairs, news related to China, and China's organized activities in the region.
During the last few decades, America has been the most important foreign interventionist power in West Asia. Therefore, reducing American influence in the West Asian region is a priority for China. The intensification of the competition between China and America at the global level also makes this goal more prominent in China's foreign policy. But China's approach to achieve this goal is different from the approach of America and other great powers in the West Asian region; Instead of using military power and trying to expand the military base or deploying its troops in the region, China prefers diplomatic and economic means. In other words, China is trying to balance the influence of other powers in the region without a direct and extensive military presence and define its role in West Asia by using diplomatic and economic tools. Examining China's approach to the Syrian war, Libyan war and nuclear negotiations with Iran confirms this issue. To put it more clearly, China has replaced the balance of influence using economic and diplomatic tools with the "balance of power" using military tools. The most important advantage of this approach for China is to avoid direct conflict with America and its exorbitant costs, while advancing its goals in the region. China tries to indirectly reduce American influence in the region and adjust the balance of power in the region to the detriment of the United States without military conflict in two ways: First, by supporting those regional actors. that their political system has an anti-western nature and secondly, by using existing regional and global institutional arrangements.
China's average economic growth of 10% and, as a result, the use of economic diplomacy, led to the expansion of this country's economic presence in the world. Based on the geo-economic strategy, the main duty of the government was to develop economic links with other governments. In West Asia, the relationship between economic development and the application of soft power strategies for the Chinese has been two-way. This means, on the one hand, the Chinese used soft power tools to facilitate the establishment of economic ties with the countries of the region, and on the other hand, high economic exchanges and exchanges have become the basis for the soft influence of China in the culture and politics of the countries of the region. is Therefore, the Chinese have turned their economic diplomacy into sources of soft power and increasing their regional influence in West Asia in three ways, which are: "energy exchanges", "foreign investments" and the project "Belt-Road Initiative".
The investigations of this research showed that China's software presence in West Asia can be traced in three areas. The first source of China's soft power in this region of West Asia is cultural in nature and is achieved through strategies such as "use of educational tools and methods", "media methods" and "tourism industry". The second source is related to the political soft power, which is applied through the policy of "balance of influence" and the policy of "mediation" and relying on the "ideological foundations of Confucianism". The third source also refers to China's economic soft power and is achieved through three tools: "energy exchanges", "foreign investments" and "Belt-Road initiative".
 
 

Abstract After the end of the Cold War, China has formed a global partnership network. In the last three decades, China's participatory diplomacy has become the main tool of this country's foreign policy and is a symbolic indicator of the level of bilateral and multilateral relations with governments and international and regional organizations. The main question of the article is what is the position of West Asia in China's cooperative diplomacy? In response to the main question, the hypothesis of the article is that China has not limited its partners to big powers as in the past, which is the most significant change in China's partnership network. Since West Asia is one of the most important regions for China outside the Indo-Pacific region, China's approach to West Asia is based on the security of key resources and access to markets and resources. This article argues that the hierarchy of levels of participatory diplomacy shows that the governments and organizations of the West Asian region are important for China. Therefore, by understanding this hierarchy, it is possible to analyze China's approach to relations with West-Asian countries. China's partnership diplomacy with West Asia is centered around energy, the Belt and Road Initiative, foreign investment, trade and technology. The research method of this article is descriptive-analytical.
After the end of the Cold War, China has formed a global and multidimensional partnership network. Since 1993, when Beijing established its first strategic partnership with Brazil, cooperative diplomacy has gradually become one of the main components of China's grand diplomacy, and Beijing has expanded its special relations in the world with the concept of strategic partnership. To better understand China's strategic evolution in diplomacy, we need to know how these partnerships are formed and what motivates Beijing to strengthen its partnership network. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, by the end of 2021, more than 100 partnerships have been established at different levels, which include regional and international countries and organizations. These partnerships have been a prominent tool in China's diplomatic toolkit to ensure a suitable environment for the country's emergence. As a diplomatic tool, strategic partnership diplomacy reflects a broader change in China's development path and its diplomacy paradigm. China is not unique in using participatory diplomacy as a way to advance its national interests, but what distinguishes China's approach is that Beijing has placed participatory networks at the center of its foreign policy strategy. Also, like in the past, China has not limited its partners to big powers, which is the most significant change in China's partnership network. In fact, cooperative diplomacy has become China's prominent strategy to advance its economic and political growth. From an economic point of view, China is looking for partnerships with countries that have the ability to provide a market for Chinese goods and natural resources and strengthen China's economic presence in the world. Politically, China's goal of participation is to counter American pressure and create a favorable political environment for China's rise. Outside the Indo-Pacific region, West Asia is the most important region for China. The unique geopolitical position of West Asia is a vital source for the exchange of energy, technology and expansion of economic, trade and investment relations between the two sides.
  In the last decade, China has increased its economic, political and, to a lesser extent, its security footprint in West Asia and has become the largest trading partner and foreign investor for many countries in the region; China's role has also expanded with the announcement by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013 of the Belt and Road Initiative, which is the cornerstone of China's modern strategy. We start this article by analyzing the concept of strategic partnership based on the existing literature in international relations. Since there is no consensus on the meaning of the term strategic partnership, in this article we use the conceptual framework of Thomas Wilkins to explain the partnership between China and the West Asia region. Wilkins is one of the few authors who explained the conceptual framework of strategic partnership. The main question of the article is what is the position of West Asia in China's cooperative diplomacy? In response to this question, we propose the hypothesis that China has not limited its partners to big powers as in the past, that this strategy is the most significant change in China's partnership network, and China's partnership diplomacy with West Asia with energy, foreign investment, trade, innovation One Belt and One Road is focused, and Beijing is careful to avoid repeating what it sees as Western interference and present a narrative of neutral engagement with all countries, including those that are in conflict with each other, based on mutually beneficial agreements.
In this article, after analyzing the concept of strategic partnership diplomacy and reviewing the existing literature, we examined the position of West Asia in China's strategic partnership diplomacy. The findings of the research showed that China did not limit its partners to big powers as in the past, which is the most significant change in China's partnership network. Since West Asia is the most important region for China outside the Indo-Pacific region, China's approach to West Asia is based on the security of key resources and access to markets and resources. The hierarchy of levels of cooperative diplomacy shows that the governments and organizations of the West Asian region are important to China. Therefore, by understanding this hierarchy, China's approach to relations with West Asian countries can be analyzed.
  China's partnership diplomacy with West Asia focuses on energy, the Belt and Road Initiative, foreign investment, and trade and technology. In general, strategic partnerships go beyond security alignments. This is especially true for China. In recent years, Beijing has repeatedly emphasized that the partnerships are "a new type of state-to-state relationship and not against any third state." What makes China's approach unique is that partnership networks are at the strategic center of China's foreign policy. It seems that China's choice to create a cooperative diplomacy network is not accidental. On the contrary, it is determined to a large extent by the three factors of the need to deal with American pressure, the need to maintain peace and stability in its borders, and to achieve the long-term goal of modernization. Overall, although China's main goal is to seek economic benefits while avoiding political conflict, it seems that Beijing cannot indefinitely avoid playing an active role in regional security. In order to protect its long-term economic interests in West Asia, as well as to present itself as an emerging power in the multipolar international order, China will find it necessary to play a greater and more active role in the security and political dynamics of the region as soon as possible.