Abstracts

03RethinkingontheRelationshipBetweenIslamandtheWestfromMediaevaltoModernTimes

AbstractThe relationship between Islam and the West in the mediaeval times is a complicated process accompanied by conflict and cooperation. The relationship between the two sides has not only a long conflict with religious color, but also left many beautiful stories of harmonious coexistence among different religions, which however, has been covered by conflict narrative. In modern times, rejection and escaping, secularism and Westernization, Islamic modernism and nationalism constitute the four forms of Islam’s response to the West. In this process, Islam’s response to the West was not simply to contain, resist or exclude. Firstly, the complex relationship between Middle Eastern nationalism and Islam is an important factor that affects the existence of various forms of relations between Islamic countries in the Middle East and the West. Secondly, Islamic political thoughts and their social forces have complex and diverse responses to the West, rather than simply anti-Western. Finally, this paper draws two conclusions: First, the narrative theme of the relationship between Islam and the West needs to be rewritten urgently, needing to get rid of the one-sided narrative of highlighting conflict and looking down upon cooperation at present. Second, the conflicts in the history of the relationship between Islam and the West exist objectively, which is neither a religious conflict nor a conflict of civilizations.

KeyWordsIslam and the West; Conflict and Cooperation; Civilization Intercourse

AuthorLIU Zhongmin, Ph.D., Professor, Middle East Studies Institute, Shanghai International Studies University.

28OverallIntegration:OnChina-SaudiComprehensiveStrategicPartnership

AbstractSaudi Arabia is rich in oil and gas resources with capital and location advantages; while China is rich in human resources with technical and market advantages. In the 30 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two, they have transcended ideological differences and have gone through three stages of energy partners, strategic friendly partners and comprehensive strategic partners, forming an integrated and interdependent cooperative relationship. China’s “Belt and Road” initiative is in line with Saudi “Vision 2030”. Cooperation between the two countries is affected by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the Middle Eastern geopolitical rivalry and complementarity of China’s and Saudi developmental strategies. Such partnership is characterized by top-level design, mechanism docking, multi-dimensional cooperation and global outreach. In prospect, the development of China-Saudi relations needs to address the greater triangle of “China-US-Saudi Arabia” and the lesser triangle of “China-Iran-Saudi Arabia”, coordinating the old platform and the new mechanism to strengthen the exchange of governance experience between China and Saudi Arabia. The comprehensive cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia has promoted the interconnection of East Asia and West Asia, and it has helped major Asian countries to explore a modernization path that suits their respective national conditions, thereby enhancing the awareness of the Asian community.

KeyWordsChina and Saudi Arabia; Integral Cooperation; China’s Middle East Diplomacy; Emerging Powers

AuthorsSun Degang, Ph.D., Research Fellow, Institute of International Studies, Fudan University (Shanghai 200083); Wang Yaqing, Ph.D. Candidate, Middle East Studies Institute, Shanghai International Studies University.

55TheImpactofHajjonSino-SaudiRelations

AbstractHajjis not only the religious obligation of Muslims all over the world, but also a significant factor that has impacted on bilateral relations between Saudi Arabia and other countries where Muslims live.Hajjhas played a role as a link in the development of Sino-Saudi relations.Hajjhas played the roles of “l(fā)ifeline” “pioneer” “l(fā)ubricant ” and “new frontier” in four historical stages. On the whole, the exchanges between China and Saudi Arabia started from the simply religious field to the religious and non-political fields, and finally involved many fields such as politics, economy, military, society and culture. With the in-depth development of relations between the two countries,Hajjgradually returned to the religious essence in the bilateral relations. Only when the two countries cooperate and strengthen cooperation in the management ofHajjcan they promote the optimization of globalHajjgovernance and the strategic docking of the development strategies of China and Saudi Arabia.

KeyWordsHajj; Sino-Saudi Relations; Bandung Conference; Deng Xiaoping’s visit to the US; Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

AuthorNiu Song, Ph.D., Professor, Middle East Studies Institute, Shanghai International Studies University; Research Fellow, Center for Religion and China’s National Security, Fudan University.

76AReviewonSaudiArabia’sEconomicReformsUndertheKingSalman

AbstractSaudi Arabia’s state-dominated and oil-based economy led to the lack of independence in development of its non-oil industry and private sectors characterized by reliance on subsidies, monopoly of family business, and over-reliance on foreign workers. Since the King Salman took office, the Kingdom has undertaken a set of economic reform measures including promoting the process of privatization, attracting foreign investments and expanding sovereign-wealth fund investments, however, economic reform is still constrained by many internal and external factors. On the one hand, interior factors such as royal family politics and its authoritarian governance, mismatching between the skills of employed population and the needs of the labor market, contradictions between the inertia of rentier economy and the economic structural reform, and vested interest groups’ obstruction of the reform process are hindering the implementation of reforms and their effectiveness. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia is faced by external factors in the reshaping its own economy and establishing a new social contract, including geopolitical tensions, homogeneous competition among Gulf monarchies, continued oil market turmoil and chain effects of regional incidents.

KeyWordsSaudi Arabia’s Diplomacy; King Salman; Emerging Middle Powers; Vision 2030

AuthorLU Yiwei, Ph.D., Associate Professor, School of Asian and African Studies, Shanghai International Studies University.

99DynamicsofFamilyPoliticsintheShiftofSaudiArabia’sForeignPolicy

AbstractSince King Salman took office in 2015, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has changed its traditional role as a mediator and launched a series of diplomatic and military offensives in the Middle East. Meanwhile, power struggle within the Kingdom’s royal family continues. As an absolute monarchy, Saudi Arabia’s policy-making process is influenced by multiple factors, the relationship between King Salman’s foreign policy making and royal politics is manifested in fierce political game around power within the Saudi family. As a result, the rulers tend to adopt offensive foreign policies to transfer internal pressure to seize more power. However, historically, this pressure-transfer and power-centralized strategy was not unrestricted, it is constrained by internal and external conditions such as the internal division and external reactions.

KeyWordsKingdom of Saudi Arabia; Family Politics; Offensive Foreign Policy

AuthorWANG Tingyi, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Institute for International and Area Studies, Tsinghua University; Postdoctoral Fellow, St Antony’s College, University of Oxford.

118Russia’sDiplomaticLayoutTowardsAlgeria

AbstractAlgeria is the first Arab country to sign a bilateral strategic cooperation agreement with Russia. Since the Middle East upheavals, Algeria has played a unique role in Libya, Syria and other issues, it is a force that Russia relies on in the process of strategic practice in the Middle East. Russia’s diplomatic layout to Algeria is roughly as follows: First, through regular political and diplomatic consultation mechanism between the two countries, Russia’s influence on hot issues in Libya, Syria and other regions will be enhanced, especially Russia’s political status in the Maghreb region will be improved. Second, through the economic, trade and arms sales cooperation mechanism, steadily increase the scale of the two countries’ economic and trade and arms sales. Third, strengthen cooperation with OPEC member countries and other energy exporting countries to jointly maintain the oil price and natural gas price mechanism, so as to win the market competition with Algeria’s own natural gas. In short, Algeria plays an important pivotal role in Russia’s diplomatic arrangements in the Middle East and Africa, but cooperation between the two sides has also been restricted and influenced by many factors.

KeyWordsRussia; Algeria; Diplomatic Layout; Strategic Partnership

AuthorWANG Qiong, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Institute of West-Asian and African Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

139“CumulativeDeterrence”andtheEvolutionofRelationsBetweenEgyptandIsrael

AbstractThe “cumulative deterrence” paradigm is put forward by scholars including Doron Almog and Thomas Rid based on the historical practice between Israel and Arab countries such as Egypt and Syria. This theory holds that “responding to every challenge from the enemies” and “shaping a powerful image through continuous victories” are conditions of success of “cumulative deterrence”, while it does not fully present the dynamic and procedural characteristics of “cumulative deterrence”. Therefore, this article introduces “l(fā)earning mechanism” aiming to improve it. Regarding the mechanism of “cumulative deterrence”, Egypt, Syria and other countries have constantly updated their awareness of Israel’s national strength and determination to deterrence during the war interaction. The evolution of the relations between Egypt and Israel from 1948 to the 1980s showed that when Egypt, Syria and other countries had realized that Israel had a strength advantage and high credibility of deterrence, “cumulative deterrence” would be effective; when these two conditions are not met at the same time, the result is the opposite..

KeyWords“Cumulative Deterrence”; Egypt-Israel Relations; Israel; Middle East Wars

AuthorLIU Huaqing, Ph.D. Candidate, Institute of Boundary and Ocean Studies, Wuhan University.