Interesting story a few days ago on a trip taken by China’s Middle East special envoy. I didn’t even know they had a special Middle East envoy, so that’s what struck me first.

My second thought was that China certainly was being supportive to the Palestinian cause, which was not surprising. Seeing as how China is one of the world’s preeminent “realist” nations, with strong ties to oil-producing countries in the region, it doesn’t hurt to show sympathy for the Palestinians.

Which leads me to my main point. Because of the Iraq War, the US has lost a great deal of credibility in the region. Moreover, the US is seen, right or wrong, as being too close to the Israelis, at the expense of the Palestinians and the Middle East peace process in general. The result has been that the US can no longer even pretend to be an “honest broker” in the peace process, and (let’s admit it) has not tried too hard over the past couple of years.

Opportunity for the Chinese? As with everything else, including trade, once the US makes a foreign policy blunder, there are plenty of other nations, such as China, that are willing to step into that particular region and play ‘good cop’ to the US ‘bad cop’. Just another instance in China building up its international stature.

Disclaimer: I am no expert on the Middle East, so there is probably a lot here I’m missing besides oil and political influence.

Update: Ben Landy has a much more informed post on this subject on China Redux. Next time, I will read what Ben has to say first . . .