Sino-Turkish 'Solid Strategic Partnership'

This article analyses the motivation behind China's measures to formalise a solid strategic partnership with Turkey. One cannot ignore the inherent potential and impact on the region of a Chinese strategic partnership with Turkey and Beijing's balancing efforts to contain US predominance in the Middle East. However, China's bilateral relationship with Turkey is essentially limited, with narrow strategic manoeuvrability, which make the two countries unlikely to become solid strategic partners in the foreseeable future. Yet an improved strategy and more sophisticated diplomatic tactics by China could bring it closer to reality.