Gedaliah Afterman is head of the Asia policy program at the Abba Eban Institute for Diplomacy and Foreign Relations at Reichman University (formerly IDC Herzliya) in Israel. He previously served as an Australian foreign service officer and a diplomat at the Australian Embassy in Beijing, where he focused on issues related to China's foreign policy, including the Middle East.
China's deepening engagement in the Middle East, particularly its aspirations to rival the U.S., has become a major topic of discussion. In recent years, China has transitioned from a primary focus on securing energy resources to emerging as a leading provider of infrastructure and technology across the region. This shift, coupled with Beijing's role in facilitating the 2023 rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, has intensified speculations about China's ambitions to play a more prominent political role in the region.
