What does Beijing expect to gain from the intra-Palestinian peace talks? What considerations shape China’s position on the Israel-Gaza conflict, and on the wider geopolitical picture of the Middle East? How does China’s support for Iran factor into its strategies? What can we expect next?
Mohammed Alsudairi is a Lecturer in Politics and International Relations of the Arabic Speaking World at Australian National University. He holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Politics from the University of Hong Kong (HKU), an M.A. in International Relations and International History from the London School of Economics and Peking University, and a B.Sc. in International Politics from Georgetown University. Prior to his appointment at CAIS, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences at HKU, working on a project examining the intersections between religion and infrastructure in the context of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Since 2015, he has overseen the development of the Asian Studies Program at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. More recently, in 2022, he was awarded a research fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to work on his upcoming book manuscript.
Informed by a multidisciplinary and multilingual approach, Alsudairi’s research focuses on the historical and contemporary connections between the Middle East and East Asia; the histories of transnational revolutionary and counter-revolutionary networks in the Arab world; ideological security bureaucracies and state-led cultural engineering practices across Asia; and Muslim religiosities and sectarian identities in the Middle East, China, and other areas. His academic work has appeared in multiple academic journals including The Middle East Journal, Third World Quarterly, Journal of Arabian Studies, Journal of Contemporary China, Global Policy, and Oxford University’s Journal of Islamic Studies.
Carice Witte is the Founder and Executive Director of SIGNAL Group (Sino-Israel Global Network & Academic Leadership), an Israeli policy organization that specializes in China-Israel and China-Middle East affairs. Witte initiated Chinese-Israeli Track-II exchanges in 2011. The same year, she initiated an annual program held in Israel for Chinese faculty on teaching Israel Studies as well as the establishment of Israel Studies Programs (ISPs) at universities across China.
Having led over 1,000 briefings in China and Israel, she established an annual conference on Israel’s China policy in 2016 and a semi-annual China-Israel and annual China-Israel-U.S. Track-II dialogue in 2017. In 2019, Witte launched a seminar series for international China experts and policy professionals that evolved during COVID-19 into a monthly gathering. In 2022, she began developing SIGNAL Group’s new strategic agenda to strengthen Israel’s geostrategic position in the context of China’s growing role on the world stage and especially in the Middle East as well as the increasing tensions between Beijing and Washington.
An expert on China and China-Israel affairs, Witte is a leading contributor to defining this field of policy research in Israel. She has authored articles, research, and policy analysis papers on Sino-Israel relations, China’s evolving policy reforms and their impact on Israel, and strategic communication. Her research focuses on China’s foreign and domestic policy as it impacts Israel and the region, China’s work in the United Nations, China’s Global Security Initiative and Global Civilizations Initiative, and China and the Middle East.
Witte is on the board of the Israel Council on Foreign Affairs. She immigrated to Israel from the U.S. in 1987. Prior to forming SIGNAL Group, Witte pursued an entrepreneurial career in international real estate and Israeli high-tech, working with leading European banks. She is a graduate of Yale University. Witte has five children and four grandchildren.
Joyce Karam is the Senior News Editor at Al-Monitor and a journalist with decades of experience covering the Middle East, U.S. foreign policy, and international affairs. She authors Al-Monitor’s weekly China-Middle East Briefing newsletter. She is also a Professor of Political Science at George Washington University.
Jonathan Fulton is an Associate Professor of Political Science in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and a Nonresident Senior Fellow with Middle East Programs and the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council. An expert on Chinese policy toward the Middle East, he has written widely on the topic for both academic and popular publications. His books include China’s Relations with the Gulf Monarchies (Routledge, 2019), External Powers and the Gulf Monarchies (co-edited with Li-Chen Sim, Routledge, 2019), Regions in the Belt and Road Initiative (Routledge, 2022), Routledge Handbook on China-Middle East Relations (Routledge, 2022), and Asian Perceptions of Gulf Security (co-edited with Li-Chen Sim, Routledge, 2023). Fulton has published over 30 journal articles, book chapters, and reports, and dozens of op-eds and analytical pieces. His analysis has been featured in global media outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, and the BBC. He is also the host of the Atlantic Council’s popular China-MENA Podcast, and publishes The China-MENA Newsletter.
Melamine-tainted milk, rat meat sold as lamb, recycled cooking oil sourced from restaurant waste or even sewers, rice containing poisonous heavy metals: food safety scandals were extraordinarily frequent in China in the first 15 years of the 21st century. In the last few years, there have been far fewer such reports, thanks, apparently, to increased regulation and inspections. However, in early July, the Beijing News, a state newspaper, reported on fuel tanker trucks being used to transport cooking oil. A little later in the month, business news organization Caixin found that fuel tanker ships were similarly also being used to transport cooking oil. Are these incidents outliers after several years of crackdowns on unsafe food handling practices? Or does the relative rarity of public food safety scandals reflect improved censorship more than improved regulation? What are the challenges for the government in ensuring a healthy, safe food supply for China? What are Chinese consumers saying about their food, and what should they know about what they are eating?
Yaling Jiang is the founder of research and strategy consultancy ApertureChina and Chinese consumer newsletter Following the Yuan. Starting out her career as a lifestyle columnist and business journalist in 2014, Jiang has closely observed Chinese consumers throughout this defining decade. She now specializes in providing insights and strategies on the Chinese consumer market for brands and financial institutions. Her expertise has been featured in international outlets such as the Financial Times, Reuters, Le Monde, Les Echos, South China Morning Post, and Jing Daily. She is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School in the U.S., and of the University of Bath and Brunel University in the U.K.
Manya Koetse is a sinologist and the founder of What’s on Weibo and its Weibo Watch newsletter, providing insights into Chinese social media trends, Internet culture, and societal issues.
