Events

The Mediterranean region is one of the great economic, socio-cultural, and geopolitical pivots in human history. It is both a space of unity and coherence characterised by long-term continuity, as well as a dynamic epicentre of centrifugal forces that connect Europe, Africa, and Asia. The current "arc of tension” projecting from the wider Mediterranean region is the byproduct of two mutually reinforcing phenomena: the simmering civil war within Islam, and the consequences of the financial crisis which has been engulfing the southern members of the Eurozone since 2010.

As political instability, extremism, and economic dislocation across this region reverberate globally, they intersect one of the most consequential macro-trends of this century: the transition of China, with its 1.4 billion people, from the periphery to the centre of the international system. Next to the United States, China is today the most influential global actor and is quickly becoming an eminent player in the Mediterranean region, and its footprint is changing the balance of power on the ground in a nuanced yet incremental fashion.

In this framework, ChineMed Symposium will tackle China’s new role in the wider Mediterranean region through different and complementary perspectives such as the Mediterranean region in China’s Grand Strategy, the New Centrality of the Eastern Mediterranean, China in the southern Arc of the Mediterranean, China’s Diplomatic Litmus test in the Middle East, in addition to a particuar focus on Italy & China.

The Policy Center for the New South will contribute to the discussion and will be represented by its Senior Fellow, Mr El Mostafa Rezrazi.