China rolled out the red carpet for Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad's official visitation lately, given the fact that Syria joined the BRI in 2022. As for this time, President Assad carried bigger goals for his visitation to China, in additional to asking for economic support. China might be willing to help out, if the conditions are met, is this really the case? How should we understand China's role in the Middle East? Is China taking over more economic projects than the US? How will China benefit from the normalization between Israel and the Saudi?

Dr.Kristian Ulrichsen is the Fellow for the Middle East at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. His research spans the history, political and international political economy, and international relations of the Gulf States and their changing position within the global order.