China’s Contribution to the United Nations Peacekeeping Missions in the Middle East and North Africa: Security Balancing Signals

Abstract

China's participation in the United Nations peacekeeping missions has been very striking in recent years, notably since 2000. In accounting for China's such operations in the Middle East and North Africa, this article focuses on security perspective. The aim of the paper is to address China's peacekeeping policies in relation to the country's strategic preferences and utilities. The findings show that the calculus behind China's ascendency in the peacekeeping engagement, and perhaps its foreign policy, has shifted with its improved international image not only in economic and diplomatic arenas but also security enhancement and balancing against the United States. In other words, China is surpassing the U.S. as the leader in UN peacekeeping and crafting an image for itself within the international community which will be evaluated in three sections; firstly, shedding lights on China's level of participation in the peacekeeping missions in the Middle East and North Africa, secondly, assessing its military strategy and, finally, noticing China's balancing responses to the United States.