Hedging in the Middle East and China-U.S. Competition1.

This article examines policies of both China and the United States in the Middle East. It evaluates the effectiveness of Beijing's strategic hedging behavior against Washington's 'hard power' strategies by discussing several policy challenges in this region: energy security, the Iranian nuclear issue, terrorism, regional alliance structures, and the 'Arab Spring.' The results of this study show that the gradual retreat of the United States from the Middle East coincides with a stronger Chinese presence in the region on several fronts. In examining Sino-U.S. power competition in the Middle East, it contributes to the advancement of 'strategic hedging' as a still underdeveloped concept in the International Relations literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]