摘要
Since the end of the Cold War,China and the United States have expanded their presence in the Middle East along parallel tracks,with China maintaining a basic attitude characterized by noncooperation,nonsupport,and nonconfrontation toward the United States.Recent years,however,have witnessed an increasingly apparent strategic confrontation between the two at the global level.Their conflicts have remained limited to the middle layer,due to the relatively adequate amount of strategic space that exists there,but have been growing increasingly tense structurally and bilaterally.The deteriorating environments at both the top and the bottom layers have exerted pressures that squeeze the core in the middle.As a result,the status quo relationship between the two countries is unsustainable,and their coexistence in the Middle East will enter a new phase.In the short term,the two countries may undergo a period of transition,based on their strategic choices,in the Middle East.Given the current context in which the Indo-Pacific region and Europe have become involved in the global rivalry between China and the United States,the direction where the Middle East may be heading could shed light on the future of Latin America and Africa as well.
作者
牛新春
Niu Xinchun(the Institute of Middle East Studies,China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations)
