Anoushiravan Ehteshami is Professor of International Relations in the School of Government and International Affairs at Durham University.Niv Horesh is Visiting Professor of China Studies in the School of Government and International Affairs at Durham University.

"Authors Ehteshami and Horesh, both professors at Durham University, aim to create a balanced understanding of China’s role in the Middle East by contrasting current Chinese policy with that of the Maoist era, emphasizing China’s economic power, and ascertaining whether Mideast elite perspectives of China (and Chinese perceptions of the region) have changed. Sources include newspaper articles, journal articles, and books in English, Farsi, Arabic, and Chinese. Overall, the study is a useful addition to the literature, but less thorough in its analysis than James Reardon-Anderson’s The Red Star and the Crescent (2018)."--G. A. McBeath, emeritus, University of Alaska Fairbanks, CHOICE, January 2020 Vol. 57 No. 5Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professors.

• Chapter 1 Introduction, Chapter 2 The Chinese-Middle Eastern Encounter in Broader Historical Perspective: From the Han to the Qing Dynasty, Chapter 3 China’s Presence in the Middle East in the Long 20th Century, 1912-2012, Chapter 4 Eyeing Military Alliance ? Sino-Iranian Mutual Strategic Perceptions Leading onto the Trump Era, Chapter 5 Chinese Strategic Perceptions of Saudi Arabia, Chapter 6 A Model for Self-Development ? Egyptian Perceptions of China since 2012, Chapter 7 Our ‘New Best Friend’ ? Turkish Perceptions of China Since 2012, Chapter 8 The PRC’s Slowly Improving Relations with Israel, Chapter 9 Conclusions