Gulf Roundtable: China and the Gulf

China is becoming more consequential in the Middle East even when it does not want to be, according to Christopher K. Johnson and Jon B. Alterman. Johnson is a senior adviser and holds the Freeman Chair in China Studies at CSIS. Alterman holds the Zbigniew Brzezinski Chair in Global Security and Geostrategy and is director of the Middle East Program at CSIS. Johnson and Alterman argued that while Middle Eastern countries hope to draw China more into the region to balance against the United States, China’s capacity and desire to play a greater role in the region are limited. Alterman and Johnson discussed China’s conundrum at a Gulf Roundtable entitled “China and the Gulf” at CSIS on April 26, 2013.