As U.S. steps back from Middle East, China steps in
by Ned Temko
Mar 14, 2023
3 minutes
Welcome to the post-American Middle East.
That’s the pointed message Iran, Saudi Arabia, and their eager mediator, China, wanted to send Washington with last Friday’s announcement of a rapprochement between the region’s rival Muslim powers.
But America’s retreat from its decades-long role as the preeminent outside actor in Mideast affairs has been a deliberate choice – spurred by a range of factors, not least the disastrous aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, which began two decades ago next week.
And one irony of China’s Mideast diplomatic
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