Benjamin Houghton

Benjamin Houghton is an al-Sabah doctoral fellow and teaching associate at Durham University, where he researches China’s relations with the Middle East. He is the co-editor of two forthcoming volumes, "China Moves West: The Evolving Strategies of the Belt and Road Initiative" (Lynne Rienner Publishers) and "The Contest for Supremacy: China, Russia, and the USA in the Middle East" (Routledge). He has been published in Asian Affairs and Orient.

Gulf | Mar 10, 2024

ALM Special

A year on, China's Saudi-Iran deal endures by virtue of low expectations

Whether China’s involvement symbolizes a rejection of US hegemony in the Middle East remains up for debate, but what matters more is the normalization of Saudi-Iranian relations that has materialized.