Is China Competing for Hegemony in the Middle East? An Explanation of the Multidimensional Concept of Power and the Case of Syria

The Middle East is one of the regions with the most pronounced security deficits and is plagued by war, conflict, terrorism, and various traditional and nontraditional security challenges. As a significant global power, China has developed a distinctive set of principles for its engagement in Middle Eastern security affairs. China’s involvement in Middle Eastern crises has sparked considerable speculation, with concerns that China may seek to replace the USA-led Western influence and pursue regional hegemony. Using the Syrian crisis as a case study, this paper employs an analytical framework based on a multidimensional concept of power to assess China’s role in the Middle East to address whether China aspires to hegemony in the region. Through content and discourse analysis, we examine Syrian official media coverage of China, assessing China’s types of power from the perspective of the power-recipient country. We then compare the types of power exercised by China and Russia in addressing the Syrian crisis, illustrating that China prefers to play a more supportive role than Russia does, which is heading into direct confrontation with the West in the Middle East. Our findings indicate that while the Middle East holds significant geopolitical importance for China, its approach has been marked by restrained involvement, limited security assistance, reliance on multilateralism, and prioritizing economic cooperation. Thus, we conclude that although China aims to increase its influence in the Middle East, it does not wish to become overly active in regional affairs, nor does it aspire to dominate the regional order.