MIDDLE EAST HISTORY POLITICS CULTURE XIII MIDDLE EAST XIII | Page 180

for China was based on some basic reasons. First, Beijing could afford to sell
weapons and in some degree, reduce threat feeling. Second, such a new policy
could help the country to remove ideological constrains. The third option was
the lack of defense industry’s strength and in its drive to modernize military
capability China found the Gulf region which demonstrated itself as ‘real
partner.’ Thus, availability of customers became significant for Chinese.
Since the establishment of the PRC in 1949 and throughout the whole
period of 1950-1960, while dealing with Beijing Washington was attempting
to implement a policy of mixture diplomatic isolation, economic embargo and
military encirclement. When such kind of policy gave no desirable result and
the failure became evident, the United States (US) changed its strategy by
taking advantage of China’s ‘new policy of opening up to outside world’ in
the periods of 1970s and 1980s. Americans started to employ economic and
cultural exchange programs with China to encourage their ‘peaceful
evolution’ from socialism to capitalism. Later, after the Tiananmen crisis of
1989 the US had shifted its tactics once again by implementing economic
sanctions, as well as diplomatic pressure to force changes in China’s domestic
policy. Although the consequences of the Tiananmen crisis were painful,
however, within a year of the incident China managed to rebuild and
improve its base of operations in the Middle East and, no less important, its
‘injured’ international image. 20
In fact, in June 1989 the PRC became more isolated from international
community than at any time after its independence in 1949. Only a year and
a half later since Tiananmen incident, by early 1991, Beijing once again could
recover its global image by taking part in international politics and playing a
role of great power, which already could not be ignored. The significance of
the Middle East for China in a true sense increased since the Tiananmen
incident. At the same time, Beijing’s foreign policy objectives towards the
region mainly consisted of these three main spheres:
 Political sphere: the PRC got ample opportunities for taking more
active role in settling outstanding regional issues, meanwhile it
started to play a greater role in international politics;
 Economic sphere: the Middle East had swallowed a huge slice of
China’s exports of civilian labor and goods, while providing loans
Calabrese J., Peaceful or Dangerous Collaborators? China’s Relations with the Gulf
Countries. Pacific Affairs, University of British Columbia 65 (4), 1992-1993, p. 475.
20
180