Fishing in Troubled Waters: China, Turkey, and the Eastern Mediterranean

Abstract

The article seeks to explain the conspicuous lack of alignment and mutual support between Turkey and China on their respective regional maritime disputes. A comparison of the maritime disputes between Turkey and its neighbors in the Eastern Mediterranean with China and its neighbors in the South China Sea reveal fundamental differences in each country’s respective legal positions. However, fundamental similarities in their behavior and political positions ultimately means alignment is possible. What has so far precluded such an alignment has to do with China’s long-standing strategic view toward the Eastern Mediterranean as part of a larger global strategic vision that began during the Cold War during the 1960s-1970s. This has evolved since the Cold War into what can be inferred as a deliberate strategy of hedging in its economic diplomacy in the Eastern Mediterranean, by evaluating its conspicuous absence in key energy projects. This analysis contributes to understand China’s growing influence in key regions around the world, and may be of particular relevance in understanding how China’s influence in the Eastern Mediterranean could figure into solutions between Turkey and its neighbors.