China Should Work Harder for Putin's Sanity

Chinese President Xi Jin Ping traveled to Moscow this week to meet up with Russian leader, while the war in Ukraine continues. Both leaders sat down and exchanged views, regarding mutual economic and political benefits. Meanwhile, America has been worried about the newly established economic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which was also brokered by China. What is China trying to accomplish in the Middle East? Will China's charm outweigh the charisma of the US? Will Putin stop his military planning? Dr.Kristian Coates Ulrichsen is the Fellow for the Middle East at RiceUniversity’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. His research spans thehistory, political and international political economy, andinternational relations of the Gulf States and their changing positionwithin the global order. Coates Ulrichsen is the author of fivemonographs and the editor of three volumes about the Gulf States,including Insecure Gulf: The End of Certainty and the Transition tothe Post-Oil Era 2011), The United Arab Emirates: Power, Politics, andPolicymaking (2016), and, most recently, Qatar and the Gulf Crisis(Oxford University Press, 2020).