China and Gaza, PRC renewables in GCC, KSA distributing Changan cars in South Africa, Zhai Jun attends BRICS meeting on Middle East
What a week. Like everyone else, a lot of my time was sucked into Trump’s tariff drama, the depressing dismantling of USIP and the Wilson Center, the horrible deportations, the Wisconsin court election, Signal and Gmail fallout, etc. It’s staggering to watch. It’s surreal to hear the Canadian Prime Minister say, “The 80-year period when the United States embraced the mantle of global economic leadership, when it forged alliances rooted in trust and mutual respect and championed the free and open exchange of goods and services, is over. This is a tragedy."
I mention this here because the drama in DC overwhelms the news everywhere, and there has been little in the way of frequent and significant developments on the China-MENA beat this week. When I made my way through the news this week it was dominated by tariffs and the end of the international order. Thankfully the baseball season started so there’s been a positive distraction for me - the Blue Jays are in first place!
So with little in the way of actual news, some analysis that has popped up over the past couple of days.
Is China’s Peace Plan Still Relevant for Gaza? - The Diplomat. We haven’t heard much about the Beijing Declaration or China’s attempts to bring unify the Palestinian factions for a while, and this short op-ed from The Diplomat posits that any possible gains are far out-weighed by the costs. This isn’t especially surprising; to be effective in this space one needs an incredibly deep pool of experience, networks, and patience. The PRC’s foray into Palestinian politics has seemed, from the outside, to be quite shallow. I don’t mean this as criticism, but just to point out that it will likely take a lot of time to develop credibility as a mediator, and we haven’t seen the requisite legwork yet.
In March 2025, the resumption of Israel’s bombing campaign on Gaza shattered the fragile ceasefire that had been brokered between Israel and Hamas just two months earlier. The ceasefire, which had offered a fleeting glimpse of hope after the conflict erupted on October 7, 2023, quickly gave way to renewed hostilities. This violent reversal exposed the inherent fragility of third-party mediation efforts, even for a rising power like China. Faced with the sobering reality of over 50,000 Palestinian casualties and the escalating human toll of the conflict, Beijing has recalibrated its diplomatic calculus.
The renewed bombing campaign did more than just reignite violence, it signaled a dramatic shift in regional dynamics. The fragile truce, achieved through third-country mediation, was undone by the overwhelming momentum of the conflict, raising questions about the efficacy of external interventions. With the risk of miscalculation ever-present and the potential for severe political backlash mounting, Beijing appears to have decided that the costs of spearheading mediation in such a volatile environment far outweigh the potential diplomatic rewards. Consequently, China has stepped back, allowing more experienced mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and the United States to navigate the treacherous terrain of conflict resolution.
China’s solar giants take root in the GCC - AGBI. I’ve gotten very close to a done draft of my frequently-mentioned book, and the last section I’ve been researching was cooperation in renewable energy. China’s success in this sector in the Arab world has been a) substantial and b) under-recognized. Here’s a short op-ed from AGBI on how it’s looking in the GCC.
In 2022 Middle East countries, led by the UAE and Saudi Arabia, imported about 11.4GW of solar photovoltaic components from China – a 78 percent increase over the previous year.
Chinese companies have quickly evolved to provide higher value inputs, becoming investors and coinvestors in Gulf countries’ large scale solar projects.
For instance, Jinko Solar has signed an agreement to supply 1GW of solar modules for the Neom Green Hydrogen Project in Saudi Arabia, led by Acwa Power.
Another major project is the Al Dhafra Solar PV Plant in Abu Dhabi, built by China Machinery Engineering Corporation. The plant was inaugurated in 2023, with an installed capacity of 2.1GW, and generates enough electricity to power 200,000 households annually while reducing carbon emissions by 2.4 million tonnes each year.
Saudi's Jameel Motors enters South Africa as distributor of Changan cars - Reuters. I guess this qualifies as news. If you’ve been reading the newsletter regularly you’ve seen a lot of posts about Chinese automobiles in the Middle East. Here’s a twist to the story: an Arab company acting as a distributor of Chinese cars in South Africa.
Saudi Arabia's Jameel Motors has signed a deal to distribute China-based Changan Automobile's, opens new tab SUVs, sedans, pickups and new energy vehicles in South Africa, the companies announced on Monday, their first foray into the country.
South Africa is the largest automotive market in sub-Saharan Africa, with new vehicle sales totalling more than 500,000 in 2024 and growing demand for affordable vehicles with the latest technology…
Automotive distributor Jameel Motors, owned by Saudi Arabia's Abdul Latif Jameel Group, will initially focus on the distribution of Changan and Deepal products. The vehicles are expected to be available for purchase in the fourth quarter, the companies said in a statement.
On March 28, 2025, the Consultations of Deputy Foreign Ministers/Special Envoys of BRICS Countries on the Middle East were held in Brasilia. Secretary for Africa and the Middle East at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil Carlos Sérgio Sobral Duarte chaired the meeting. Special Envoy Zhai Jun of the Chinese Government on the Middle East Issue led the Chinese delegation to the meeting.
Zhai Jun said the profound and complex changes in the Middle East over the past year have severely impacted the security and stability of the international community, particularly the surrounding regions of the Middle East. The most urgent task in addressing the recurring conflicts in the Middle East is to restore the ceasefire as soon as possible and prevent the situation from further escalating. China has consistently supported countries in the Middle East in independently exploring their development paths and working in unity and cooperation to address the security issues in the Middle East. China is ready to join with BRICS members to further coordinate positions, take actions, and jointly uphold international fairness and justice, as well as promote lasting peace and stability in the Middle East.
The participants had an in-depth exchange of views on the hotspot issues in the Middle East and reached a broad consensus. The meeting adopted a joint statement, reiterating deep concern over the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, particularly the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and outlining the BRICS common positions on hotspot issues such as Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, Libya, and Sudan.