Re-Emergence of the Middle East in China: Towards a New Research Paradigm in ‘One Belt, One Road’

China’s new global initiative, ‘One Belt, One Road’, has been reviving the ancient Silk Road trade route to launch an alternative ‘Go Global’ strategy. Commentators foresee China’s new Silk Road, sometimes referred to as the new Marshall Plan, may reshape the dynamics of the regions and lead to confrontation among the big powers. There are fears that whether China is engaged in neo-colonialism in Africa and may become a superpower in the Middle East. While dominant policy and scholarly attention has been given to ‘China in the Middle East’, this paper explores another ignored trend and new research paradigm, namely ‘the Middle East in China’.