Author: Zhao Yuming (Special Researcher, Xi Jinping Research Center for Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Associate Researcher, Institute of Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)
Since the outbreak of the new Palestinian-Israeli conflict in October 2023, more than 30,000 civilians have died and more than 2 million have been displaced in the Palestinian Gaza Strip. At the same time, armed groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and other countries have frequently attacked US military targets, and the Red Sea has fallen into a security crisis. Of course, there are reasons for the parties to the conflict to deteriorate sharply again, but the negative impact of extraterritorial factors should not be underestimated. Overall, the Middle East is one of the regions most negatively affected by the U.S. global strategy and regional policies.
Post-World War II "Historical Debts"
After the end of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union moved from an alliance formed by the anti-fascist war to a Cold War confrontation. Under this pattern, the global strategy of the United States is to compete with the Soviet Union for dominance in the international order and the right to speak in regional affairs. At the global level, the United States seeks to establish a "rules-based international order" based on so-called "universal values" and liberal values, and under the banner of building a "democratic world". The essence of this policy is to exercise hegemony, and the concrete construction is based on the creation of a global international system in the political, economic, security, and cultural fields, and supported by the stationing of troops around the world and the formation of regional military alliances. Under this strategic framework, the United States avoided a direct conflict with the Soviet Union, and at the same time engaged in various forms of all-out confrontation with it, such as a "proxy war."
With its important geographical location, abundant oil and gas reserves, and complex religious and ethnic situation, the Middle East has always been a key region in the game of foreign powers. After the end of World War II, the United States used its superpower power, especially the hegemony of the dollar and oil, as a lever to dominate regional affairs, and tried to prevent the Soviet Union from expanding its influence. The specific approach is to regard Israel as a core ally, integrate Turkey into NATO, and turn Saudi Arabia, Iran, and other countries into strategic fulcrums; second, to build a regional security architecture by building a "multilateral security mechanism" and to attack countries hostile to the United States or close to the Soviet Union by hard means such as regime subversion and military subjugation; third, to engage in gold-yuan diplomacy and stabilize bilateral relations with regional countries with a large amount of aid; and fourth, to use its control of international communication and discourse to export American-style culture to strengthen its soft power.
However, due to the long-standing unfair position of the United States on the Palestinian-Israeli issue, after the outbreak of the Fourth Middle East War in 1973, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), mainly Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, imposed an oil embargo on the West. This move not only allowed the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to successfully gain control of the global oil market, but also plunged the West into a serious economic crisis. In addition, Iran, although once the regional pillar of the United States, became the leading anti-American country in the region after the outbreak of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. It can be said that due to the unfairness of the US regional policy, the Middle East region has not only not moved from chaos to order, but has long been mired in a state of bloc confrontation and frequent conflicts.
The hegemonic actions of the post-cold-war era undermine the foundations of stability
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the West was basking in the joy of winning the Cold War. As the sole superpower, the United States has made it a global strategy to maintain unilateral hegemony. In particular, after losing the Soviet Union, its main enemy, the United States began to continue to look for and shape its enemies, and the first thing it did was to throw out the "civilizational threat theory" and suppress the "rogue states" and "rogue states" it demarcated. The United States also relies on its strong military strength and frequently conducts military operations against non-Western countries. Since the beginning of the 21st century, in addition to continuing to strategically suppress Russia, the United States has also regarded China's peaceful rise as a major strategic threat, and has begun to implement the "Asia-Pacific rebalance strategy" and vigorously engage in the "Indo-Pacific strategy" in order to win over relevant countries to engage in geopolitical blockade.
On the other hand, the Middle East, which was under the "control" of the United States during this period, was one of the most unstable regions in the world, with old and new security problems. The regional policy of the United States is to control regional dominance, maintain a security system with US troops as the core, and control strategic resources such as oil and gas, while at the same time curbing the influence of Russia, Iran, and other countries in the region. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the United States has taken counterterrorism as the keynote of its diplomatic strategy, and has regarded the Middle East as the source of the terrorist threat and the main battlefield for counter-terrorism. The U.S. military has launched wars or carried out large-scale military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen and other countries, and has also put forward the so-called "Greater Middle East Democratic Transformation Plan" with the intention of transforming the region politically and culturally.
Obviously, the United States has not made the Middle East more secure and stable. Terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State are constantly emerging, and the spearhead is directed at the United States. The "democratic transformation" of the Middle East is essentially a peaceful evolution and color revolution, which became the main external cause of the political turmoil in Arab countries in 2011, and plunged the regional political, economic and security order into a state of continuous chaos. The United States also ignores the social roots behind the rise and growth of organizations such as Allah, and only blindly labels them terrorism to suppress them. More importantly, the United States, Saudi Arabia and other countries have built a system of "pegging oil to the dollar and exchanging economy for security" has been hit by both the shale oil revolution and the global new energy revolution.
To move from chaos to order the United States, it is necessary to face up to the problem and strengthen cooperation
The long-term failure to resolve the Palestinian issue is the core crux of the outbreak of the new round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the biggest source of long-term tension in the regional security situation. In particular, in recent years, the United States has deliberately bypassed Palestine in an attempt to use the so-called "Abraham Accords" to promote the normalization of relations between Arab countries and Israel, which has inspired Hamas and others to carry out armed resistance.
In the face of the tragic fighting and the large number of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip, the most correct and rational course of action should be to strive for a ceasefire as soon as possible and to alleviate the humanitarian crisis. However, the United States has provided Israel with a large amount of weapons and equipment, and has provided political and diplomatic support to Israel in the international arena such as the United Nations, resulting in a new round of Palestinian-Israeli conflicts that have prolonged and caused a security crisis in the Red Sea.
Despite U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's frequent shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East, most countries in the world, including Western countries, oppose U.S. unilateral actions, and in fact the U.S. has fallen into isolation on the Palestinian-Israeli issue. In this regard, the United States should reflect on why the Middle East security architecture it has established has failed and why its global strategy has been out of balance.
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence advocated by China have been welcomed by developing countries. In recent years, China's vision of a community with a shared future for mankind, the Belt and Road Initiative and the Three Global Initiatives have provided China's solutions and contributed China's wisdom to safeguarding world peace, promoting common development and deepening practical cooperation. In 2023, major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics facilitated the resumption of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, setting off a wave of regional reconciliation and setting a new model for political settlement of hotspot issues.
The Palestinian-Israeli issue has always affected the overall situation in the Middle East. Unless this problem is truly resolved, the Middle East region will not be able to truly achieve security, stability and sustainable development in the future. Since the outbreak of the new round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, China has repeatedly stated its position, called for a ceasefire and an end to hostilities, and actively promoted an early, just and lasting settlement of the issue. China's position and actions have been highly appreciated by the international community. At a time when the world has entered a period of great development, adjustment and transformation, more consensus and cooperation are needed for global governance and the resolution of regional hotspot issues. The United States needs to respect regional countries, face up to the root causes of the problem, and listen carefully to the initiatives and propositions of China and other major countries to jointly promote long-term peace and stability in the Middle East.
Guangming Daily (2024-04-09 16th edition)
Source: Guangming Net-Guangming Daily