Global Economic Interests and Military Power: China and the Middle East

Dean Cheng / February 25, 2011

There are now reports that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has dispatched an airliner to Athens, to assist in any possible evacuation of Chinese, Hong Kong, and Taiwanese persons from Libya. This is in addition to the dispatch of Chinese merchant ships and even fishing boats. These efforts are consistent with Chinese President Hu Jintao’s instructions to “spare no efforts to ensure the safety of life and properties of Chinese citizens in Libya.”

Setting aside the fact that Taiwanese are not citizens of the PRC and the controversy bound to ensue over the Chinese declaring them such, there is a much broader issue at stake over how a rising China determines and pursues its interests abroad. (more…)