Decoding China: Beijing, BRICS seek Middle East influence

When Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks a foreign language in public, it usually involves something essential for his country.

At the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF) in June 2014, the Chinese president greeted guests using the Arabic "As-Salaam-Alaikum," meaning "peace be unto you," before addressing the forum about China's cooperation with the Arab world and the political future of the Palestinian territories.

In his speech, which he continued in Chinese, Xi emphasized that China "strongly supports the peace process in the Middle East and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with full sovereignty, based on the 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital."

"We hope that the parties involved will take concrete measures to remove obstacles to peace talks."

He ended his speech with "Shukran," or thank you in Arabic, and received great applause.

China focuses on the Middle East

Nine years later, with tensions between Israel and Palestinians the worst they've been in decades, Xi addressed the topic again, this time at a virtual special summit of the BRICS states on Tuesday.

The special summit addressing the conflict in the Middle East was chaired by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. In attendance was Russian President Vladimir Putin and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. 

Xi's position has remained constant. He has called for an "immediate ceasefire" in the war between Israel and the militant group Hamas and for the release of "civilian prisoners."

Without a "comprehensive, just and sustainable solution to the Palestinian question, there will be no lasting peace" in the Middle East, said Xi.

China welcomed Israel's war cabinet agreeing to a ceasefire this week. Egypt and Qatar played a key role in brokering the agreement between the two parties, something that required major diplomatic effort.

At a summit in Beijing on Monday of Arab and Muslim foreign ministers to discuss solutions toward ending the Israel-Hamas war, top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi met with his counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Indonesia and the Palestinian Authority.

"This is a strong expression of confidence to visit China as the first stop for your mediation in the international community," Wang said. "We have a tradition of understanding and supporting each other."

BRICS in a new light

BRICS is a grouping of the world's largest emerging economies. The special summit held this week was the first time the group has met to address an ongoing crisis.

The occasion poses a big opportunity for China, which is not content with its status as the world's second-largest economy. China wants political influence. 

"In the current situation, it is high time for the BRICS states to speak out promptly on the issue of Palestinians and Israel and articulate justice and peace," Xi said in his video address on Tuesday.

China's head of state praised the "BRICS Plus" format as a platform on which the emerging economies can "strengthen cooperation and defend common interests."

"Today, we coordinated our positions on the issue between Palestinians and Israel and decided on joint actions. This is a good start for cooperation in the larger 'BRICS Plus' format," he added.

The meeting was also a first for the potential new BRICS member states added after the 2023 summit in August, Egypt, Argentina, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The new members, who should start joining officially from early next year, have one thing in common: They are all official supporters of China's Silk Road Initiative (BRI).

'BRI is dead. Long live BRICS'

China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) comprises a global trade network that is intended reorganize world trade more favorably towards China's geopolitical interests.

However, Markus Taube doubts that this initiative will remain successful in the long term. The economics professor specializing in East Asia at the University of Duisburg-Essen has put forward a provocative thesis: "The BRI is dead. Long live the BRICS format."

The BRI "was created in the win-win interpretation phase of global cooperation, within the framework of fair-weather globalization," said Taube.

"The BRI relies on the joint development of infrastructure and joint development of business models. This is no longer feasible today. The global narrative has changed. The BRI can no longer be sold and marketed in this form and format," he added.

The BRI will not die because it is in the Chinese Communist Party (CPP) constitution. But BRI projects could increasingly be shifted to other initiatives and other programs.

At the same time, however, BRICS is becoming "one of the most important vehicles for the foreign policy and economic propagation of Chinese interests, especially in the global South," said Taube.

"The BRICS group of states is completely changing its character," the economics professor told a lecture at the end of October.

China's change of course, and the effects on Germany

For Germany and, above all, for the German economy, political changes in China could not only have implications for business in China, but also for business in third countries, said Taube.

"BRICS is the central crystallization point of Chinese foreign and foreign trade policy."

Incidentally, the BRICS states are referred to as "gold bars" in Chinese, while the "BRICS Plus" are called the "big gold bars."

In Beijing's interpretation of the 21st century, political influence is the currency that China is currently struggling for, in what Beijing calls "great golden influences" in an anti-Western and anti-colonial alliance, which is how China understands BRICS.

"Decoding China" is a DW series that examines Chinese positions and arguments on current international issues from a critical German and European perspective.

This article was translated from German