Publication

China’s engagement with NATO in non-combat operations such as anti-piracy and humanitarian assistance/disaster relief (HADR) cannot be divorced from its geopolitical calculations. For China, they serve as a platform to further project China’s hard and soft power. This paper argues that engagement in the Mediterranean post-Arab Spring is a way to move forward. Whether it is counter-terrorism against AQIM in Algeria, HADR and common emergency response similar to the Libyan evacuation, maritime and energy security in the Eastern Mediterranean gas fields, or crisis management in Syria, the Mediterranean provides a fertile ground on which the People's Liberation Army (PLA) can engage NATO and develop a logistics tail to supply its navy in the far seas.