Beijing's Middle East policy justified(2)

Shortly after the end of the Cold War, Western countries led by the US launched a series of plans to transform the Middle East. These plans included the 1995 "Barcelona Process" of the European Union and the 2008 "Mediterranean Union" of the Mediterranean Summit.

The US National Security Strategy 2002 stressed the importance of sustaining the US' unparalleled status in the world, promoting democracy worldwide and taking preemptive military action against terrorists and tyrants.

In 2004, the US officially introduced the concept of a "Greater Middle East". Under this plan, Washington wanted to group its Western allies to promote political, economic, social, cultural and educational transformation in the Middle East in more than 10 years. Some American scholars believe that the "Greater Middle East" plan looks exactly like the 1975 Helsinki Accords, which 35 Western countries had signed to promote changes in the Warsaw Pact.

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are part of Washington's "Greater Middle East" plan. Since it could not succeed in Afghanistan and Iraq, the US is using the Middle East political crisis to transform the region to its own liking, and the "Libya model", which it has tried to use in Syria, is part of its wider plan.

In fact, the US-led fresh sanctions against Iran, too, are part of that plan. Many people may not know that it was the US and other Western countries that actually helped Iran develop nuclear projects when Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi was in power in the country. But now they are afraid of reaping what they have sowed.

The West has been a failure in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya as far as improving the quality of people's life is concerned. Most people in these countries are suffering the consequences of the ongoing turmoil and bloodshed, and living in fear and misery because of Western intervention. There is no reason why Syria should be like them and why the Middle East should continue be volatile.

Given the facts, it is not surprising that the US and its Western allies find fault with China's policy. That would not have been the case had China joined the league of self-seeking Western countries and supported the US' policy on the Middle East. China faces criticism because it refuses to be a pawn in the wheeling and dealing of the West.

This is precisely why China should be prepared to encounter difficulties and challenges, including criticisms from the West, on the road to peaceful development. It should also be prepared to take them on and keep pursuing peace and harmony.

The author is a researcher in Middle East Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.