- 08 Oct 2025
China’s Strategy in the Middle East and Prospects for the US-China Engagement
In the wake of recent regional conflicts, the Middle East has once again become a testing ground for major power competition. Although US-China relations are largely defined by strategic rivalry, the region also raises the question of whether cooperation on shared concerns remains possible. Track 2 dialogues have explored potential common ground in areas such as regional stability, while also exposing where the two sides clash most sharply, and why.
In this talk, Prof. She Gangzheng, Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for Overseas Security at Tsinghua University and currently a visiting scholar at Harvard University, shared insights from his recent involvement in Sino-US projects exploring avenues for cooperation in the region, unpacking both the opportunities and the challenges for engagement.
The lecture was held via Zoom from 10:00–11:00 AM SGT on Wednesday, 8 October 2025.
Watch the full talk here:
Listen to the full event here:
Photo caption: (COMBO) This combination of pictures created on September 18, 2025 shows, L/R, Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on September 4, 2025 and US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC, on September 16, 2025.
Trump and Xi are scheduled to talk via phone on September 19, 2025. (Photo by Lintao Zhang and SAUL LOEB / various sources / AFP)
About the Speakers
Director of the Centre for Overseas Security
School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University in Beijing, China
Dr. Gangzheng She is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of International Relations and Director of the Centre for Overseas Security at Tsinghua University in Beijing. He teaches a range of undergraduate and graduate courses, including War and Evolution in the Middle East, Conflict Resolution Studies, and Contemporary History of International Relations. From 2025 to 2026, he is serving as a Visiting Scholar at the Weatherhead Centre for International Affairs at Harvard University.
Dr. She’s research focuses on the Middle East from the onset of the Cold War to the present, with particular attention to the role of China and other major powers in the region. His work has appeared in leading academic journals such as the Chinese Journal of International Politics, Journal of Cold War Studies, Cold War History, Mediterranean Politics and Middle East Policy, as well as in publications by think tanks including the Atlantic Council and the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI).
Research Fellow
Middle East Institute, NUS
[Moderator] Dr. Lin Jing is a Research Fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute. She specialises in Jewish philosophy, Hebrew literature, and Israel Studies. Previously, Dr. Lin was a Senior Lecturer at the School of Asian & African Studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU), where she also served as the Director of the Department of Hebrew Studies from 2010 to 2019.
From 2020 to 2021, Dr. Lin was a Visiting Associate at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, in Singapore. She earned her Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Peking University, focusing on Medieval Jewish philosophy, an M.A. in Jewish Studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a B.A. in Arabic Language & Literature from BFSU.
Dr. Lin’s research interests include China-Middle Eastern relations, Jewish studies and inter-religious relations. She has published extensively in these areas and has translated several Hebrew literary works into Chinese.
