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China

June 15, 2026

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An unmanned aerial vehicle is seen during a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Japan and the end of World War II, in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on September 3, 2025. (Photo by GREG BAKER / AFP) (Photo by GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images)

Explainer

How Iran war is giving China an opening in Gulf drone market

The ongoing war has helped China carve out a growing role in Gulf defense by offering cheaper, faster and less restricted drone capabilities.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa (L) stands next to former Syrian rebel leader Issam Buwaydani (C), during a function in Douma on April 23, 2026. Buwaydani returned to Damascus on April 23 nearly a year after his detention for unknown reasons in the United Arab Emirates, a Syrian military official told AFP. (Photo by Bakr ALKASEM / AFP via Getty Images)

Explainer

China wary of Syria's Uyghur militants, but business keeps growing

China’s biggest advantage in Syria may be not aggressive spending but the lack of meaningful Western competition.

Latest News

Feature

With sanctions off, what’s keeping Syria on US terror blacklist?

TOPSHOT - US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R) meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York City on September 22, 2025. (Photo by Bing Guan / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

Analysis

Speaker, negotiator, China envoy: What Ghalibaf's accumulated powers mean for Iran

Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf (C) waves as he returns to his car after visiting the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, on October 12, 2024. At least 22 people were killed in Israeli strikes on a densely populated area of central Beirut on October 10, the Lebanese health ministry said, with a security source saying a Hezbollah figure was the target. (Photo by Ibrahim AMRO / AFP) (Photo by IBRAHIM AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)

Jamshid Jamshidi

By Jamshid Jamshidi

Analysis

Why China didn’t hand Trump a breakthrough on Iran

trump xi

Joyce Karam

By Rosaleen Carroll , Joyce Karam

Jack Dutton

Chief Business Correspondent

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Benjamin Houghton

In Durham, reporting on China in the Middle East

Yun Sun

In Washington, DC, reporting on China-Middle East ties

Dale Aluf

In Amsterdam, reporting on China in the Middle East

Emil Avdaliani

Andrea Ghiselli

In Shanghai, reporting on China in the Middle East

A missile launches from IRIS Sabalan, an Alvand-class frigate of the Iranian Navy, during the Velayat 91 drill in the Gulf of Oman on January 1, 2013. The Velayat 91 drill is a sixday Iranian naval exercise held in late December 2012 and early January 2013 across the Strait of Hormuz, the Sea of Oman, and the northern Indian Ocean to test naval readiness and secure strategic waterways. (Photo by Mohammadali Najib / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)

Russia, China, Iran to hold joint naval drills in Strait of Hormuz: What to know

The drills come as the three countries strengthen their ties amid growing US economic and military pressure on Iran.

(L-R) Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, Chinese Executive Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Ma Zhaoxu, and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi hold a press conference after their meeting in Beijing on March 14, 2025.

Iran dispatches senior official to China amid talks push with US

Ahead of his trip to Beijing, Kazem Gharibabadi met with the Russian ambassador to Iran on Tuesday.

Advertisement boards on main road of the city Sheikh Zayed Road.

UAE launches sovereign open-source AI model K2 Think: What to know

The Gulf state is one of the few countries in the world developing its own sovereign open-source AI model to counter the dominance of the United States and China in the sector.

United Arab Emirates

An undated image of Wassim Chourbaji, Qualcomm's president for the Middle East & Africa.

Interview

Qualcomm sees growing demand for edge AI in the Middle East

The Middle East's young population is increasingly adopting AI through mobile devices rather than data center-based solutions, Wassim Chourbaji, Qualcomm's president for the Middle East and Africa, told Al-Monitor.

Wassim Chourbaji

Wassim Chourbaji

Qualcomm president for the Middle East & Africa

Lay Ren

Interview

Youth, strong AI adoption make MENA leading region for smartphones: OPPO

The Chinese mobile phone manufacturer's Lay Ren, who heads up the company's business in the Middle East and North Africa regions, said the Gulf is the epicenter of regional growth but stressed that North Africa is poised to follow.

Lay Ren

Lay Ren

President of OPPO MENA

A platform for the satellite launcher is seen ahead of the Shenzhou-19 mission to the Tiangong space station at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, in China's northwestern Gansu province, on Oct. 29, 2024.

Analysis

From Sputnik to satellites: How China is pulling Egypt and Gulf into its space orbit

Beijing is emerging as a key partner for Middle Eastern and North African states seeking to develop satellites, navigation services and space industries of their own.

Dale Aluf

In Amsterdam, reporting on China in the Middle East