The China-Morocco Relation: From Third World Internationalism to Strategic Hedging

Zaynab El Bernoussi

Ingraham 336
@ 12:00 pm - 1:15 pm
More Information

Sino-Moroccan relations go back to the late 1950s, capturing a rise in Third World solidarity. However, these relations quickly faded away by the mid-1960s with Morocco’s pro-West focus. With the BRI, China has been catching up with the Maghrebi state in multiple fronts, including becoming its third-largest trading partner. This research looks at key developments in the Sino-Moroccan relation regarding industry, investment, tourism, education, and high tech. The relation is also constrained by geostrategic issues, notably the territorial dispute with the kingdom’s neighbor, Algeria, regarding the Sahara.

Zaynab El Bernoussi is an associate professor of political science at the Africa Institute, Global Studies University, in Sharjah. Her research concentrates on the politicization of dignity demands within the political evolution of the global South, with a specific focus on North Africa and the Middle East. In 2015, she received the Arab Prize from the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies (ACRPS) for her article titled “Postcolonial Politics of Dignity: From the 1956 Suez Canal Nationalization to the 2011 Revolution in Egypt.” Her first book, Dignity in the Egyptian Revolution, Protest and Demand during the Arab Uprisings, was published with Cambridge University Press in 2021. Her second book, co-authored with Adriana Garriga-Lopez, Giuliano Martiniello, and Bashir Saade, International Political Economy and the Global South, Perspectives from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, is forthcoming in June 2025 with Routledge. For more information go to https://drzelb.wordpress.com/.

This event is being hosted by the Middle East Studies Program, and is cosponsored by the Center for East Asian Studies, African Studies Program, and IRIS NRC.

The China-Morocco Relation: From Third World Internationalism to Strategic Hedging with Zaynab El Bernoussi.