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Source: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/JK06Ad02.html
China Resurgent in the Middle East
[Asia Times-Hong Kong] Chris Zambelis - The impetus behind China's resurgent efforts to extend its influence in the Middle East stems from Beijing's pursuit of energy resources to sustain its rapidly expanding economy as the world's fastest-growing consumer of oil and third-largest net importer. China's decision to export intermediate-range ballistic missiles to Syria and other states in the region in the late 1980s and early 1990s represented Beijing's first significant inroads. Since Assad's landmark 2004 visit to Beijing, high-level contacts between Chinese and Syrian dignitaries have become commonplace, especially within the business sector. Chinese oil giants have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Syria in recent years to modernize the country's aging oil and gas infrastructure. Bilateral trade between the countries reached $1.87 billion in 2007, up almost 33%, a figure that is expected to double by 2011. China has become Syria's single-largest trading partner.