On popular Arabic-language Shi’ite websites, one can find an amusing apocryphal narration about the first meeting between Ahmad al-Shuqayiri, the first Chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and Mao Zedong, sometime in the mid-1960s. To the former’s plea asking “to be taught revolution,” the latter deflectively retorted “how could I teach you revolution, when you have the revolution of Imam Hussein [to emulate]?” Though undoubtedly a myth, this short story inadvertently captured the tone of Sino-Palestinian relations: of high-hopes and limited delivery. The lecture explores the history of China’s evolving approach towards Palestine across the Cold War/post-Cold War divides, highlighting continuities and shifts. It also considers the ways in which Israel and (assessments of) the Middle East regional order have shaped its approach, and the prospects of its assumption of a peace-making role in relation to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Speaker:

Mohammed Alsudairi is a Lecturer in Politics and International Relations of the Arabic Speaking World. He holds a PhD in Comparative Politics from the University of Hong Kong (HKU). Informed by a multidisciplinary and multilingual approach, Alsudairi’s research focuses on the historical and contemporary connections between the Middle East and East Asia, and the histories of transnational revolutionary and counter-revolutionary networks in the Arab world, among others. His academic work has appeared in multiple academic journals including The Middle East Journal, Third World Quarterly, Journal of Arabian Studies, Journal of Contemporary China, Global Policy, and Oxford University’s Journal of Islamic Studies.