China's Digital Silk Road in the Middle East: A Region Trapped in the Maelstrom of Technological Competition between China and the United States of America

Abstract:Since the adoption of their strategic vision plans, the Middle East's resource-rich monarchies—Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in particular—have been at the vanguard of the digital transformation. Both countries have been heavily investing in cutting-edge technology to advance their societies, thanks to their sovereign wealth funds. These states, lacking their own technological expertise, have been interacting with China and the United States of America within the framework of the changing international order and advancements in technology to optimize the benefits of technical collaboration. Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE are pursuing a more autonomous and active foreign policy through strategic hedging as the United States gradually disengages from the region. Despite the United States being their main security supplier, China's involvement and interest in the Middle East have been increasing over the past ten years, and Beijing's "Digital Silk Road" (DSR) initiative offers the wider Middle East region plenty of opportunities—though not without risk. This study examines the technological competition in the Middle East between China and the United States. We argue that China's DSR initiative in the Middle East is a core part of the still-emerging and changing technological competition between China and the United States in the region.