Nation
China Continues to Reshape Middle East with Syria-Arab League Deal
Syria has re-joined the Arab League, after the League had excluded it for 12 years since the outset of the Syrian Civil War. But the bigger winner is China. China used the Syria-Arab League deal to praise Syria’s re-emergence from isolation, take credit for the deal (which came on the heels of the China-brokered Iran-Saudi Arabia deal), and knock the United States.
China heaped praise on Syria’s ascension to the Arab League. The development was “exhilarating news” and the Chinese “sincerely feel happy for Syria and the Arab League” according to Global Times. It was a “landmark event,” according to another Global Times article. Syria’s growing ties with the Arab world represented a “wind of change,” according to Xinhua.
China strongly influenced the Syria–Arab League deal, as the Chinese brokered Iran-Saudi Arabia deal allowed Saudi Arabia to make peace with Syria, and for Iran and Saudi Arabia to reduce tensions with each other in Syria and Yemen. And China agrees: Chinese mediation to clinch an Iran-Saudi Arabia peace deal gave the “direct impetus for the Arab League’s decision,” according to a Global Times article.
China has gone a step further, claiming that it was directly involved with the Syria-Arab League deal, a claim which could not be substantiated at the time of this writing in press from the free world. The Syria-Arab League deal was brought about“with the help of China’s mediation,” according to Global Times. Syria’s ambassador to China stated that the Arab League’s decision was “initiated by the efforts of peace-loving and responsible global powers, including China,” according to another Global Times article. In that article, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman echoed that “China has been actively engaging with all parties concerned on this matter, and has always supported the unity of Arab countries and the rejoining of Syria to the bloc.” A mere weeks before the deal, Assad praised China as playing a ”positive role in promoting Syria’s relations with other Arab nations,” and that “China is willing to continue to play a constructive role in improving Syria’s relations with Arab countries,” according to Xinhua.
Meanwhile, China used the Syria-Arab League deal as an opportunity to criticize the US’ role in the region. According to “Chinese observers” cited in the Global Times, “…the US only seeks to maintain its hegemonic status and harms peace, development rights and interests of countries in the Middle East, and will not be sustainable…” That same article, citing a Chinese academic, stated that “the US’ illegal military presence in Syria and its sanctions policy against the country are incompatible with the trend of regional relations…” and that “the regional demand for US security guarantees has declined sharply.” Syria’s ascension to the Arab League was due a decline in US influence in the Middle East due to the “US’ irresponsible behavior in events such as the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and provoking confrontation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” according to Global Times. The United States’ opposition to Syria rejoining the Arab League amountedto an “an overwhelming reluctance and non-acceptance of the independence and autonomy shown in the Middle East,”according to Global Times.
In a charm offensive, China has scored several geopolitical wins this year alone. It is hawking a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, has successfully brokered peace with Iran and Saudi Arabia in March which it has used to at least influence a Syria-Arab League deal, and has re-ignited its construction of a military base in the UAE. It is imperative that the Biden administration counter China’s inroads in the Middle East by jump–starting the Abraham Accords, before the Gulf and the broader region slips further into the hands of the CCP.
China
Obama former AG lobbying Pentagon on behalf of a Communist Chinese drone company
President Barack Obama’s former U.S. Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, has reportedly been lobbying to the United States Pentagon on behalf of a Chinese company, Fox News Digital reported. The company, known as DJI, makes Chinese military tech.
Reuters reported that Lynch, now a partner at law firm Paul, Weiss, could be leveraging her government connections in order to aid the Chinese government-linked company. One specific move Lynch has done is she wrote a letter to the Pentagon last summer on behalf of one of her clients, SZ DJI Technology Co., asking for them to be removed from the DOD’s list of Chinese military companies.
Fox News reports:
DJI is one of the largest producers of drones in the world. The U.S. Treasury placed investment restrictions on it in December 2021, accusing it and seven other companies of actively supporting surveillance and repression efforts against Uyghurs.
Meanwhile, in Congress, a House GOP-led effort could restrict DJI’s activity in the U.S. even further. Stefanik and House China select Committee Chair Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., are leading a bill called the Countering CCP Drones Act, which would ban DJI from operating on U.S. communications infrastructure.
House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital “It is disgraceful but unsurprising that Barack Obama’s former Attorney General Loretta Lynch is now working on behalf of a Communist Chinese drone company that the Department of Defense has identified as a Chinese military company.”
“Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch is lobbying the DOD to request they remove DJI from this list so the Communist Chinese company can operate with impunity in America. U.S. government officials, both past and present, should be working to ban these Communist Chinese spy drones and bolster the domestic drone industry, not advocating on behalf of a Chinese military company and the Chinese Communist Party.”
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