Historical Sciences Studies

China's Realistic Foreign Policy in the Persian Gulf in the 21st Century

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Farajollah Ahmadi 1
Narges Khaton Mirhosseini 2

1 Associate Professor, Department of History, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 M.A. Graduated, Department of History, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22059/jhss.2025.388234.473773
Abstract
At the beginning of the 21st century, one of  China's most important concerns was its urgent need for energy resources to sustain its economic development. In 2001, when China joined the World Trade Organization, Beijing's desire to engage with the international community and be present on the world economic scene  doubled, adopting a variety of approaches in its foreign policy. These new approaches along with other policies brought numerous political-economic  achievements to China. The "realism" approach  was one of the strategies in which China was able to pursue its long-term goals in the Persian Gulf. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to understand the realist approach in China's foreign policy and its purpose is to examine the impact of this approach on China's success in interacting with the Persian Gulf. This article seeks to answer this main question: "What have been the achievements of China since the beginning of the 21st century, through adopting Realism in forign policy? The hypothesis of this article is based on the fact that at the beginning of the 21st century, China tried to expand its interaction with the Persian Gulf countries in the form of various projects by inclining towards a realistic approach, and participating in international forums related to the Persian Gulf, it advanced its political and economic goals, which were to receive energy, dominate the regional markets, and maintain the security of their resources and interests. Findings of this article suggests that China's foreign policy in the Persian Gulf is a prime example of a pragmatic and calculated realism that Beijing has developed under the guise of multilateral economic diplomacy. This article  presents its findings by collecting library information and internet resources in a descriptive-analytical method, and then draws conclusions. 

Keywords

The Persian Gulf
China
Foreign Policy
Realism
21st Century
Subjects
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