We examine China's space diplomacy across the Middle East and North Africa with the authors of their recent Texas National Security Review article, "Choosing Orbits: China's Space Diplomacy in the Middle East." The discussion analyzes how regional states—specifically Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran—utilize space partnerships with Beijing to serve distinct domestic, economic, and security imperatives . Our guests challenge assumptions that smaller powers are passive subjects in great power rivalry and detail how Middle Eastern states exercise strategic agency through hybrid alignment strategies .

Guests

• Lawrence Rubin | Professor at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology, co-director of the GTDC Pathways to Policy program, and associate fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies .

• Lincoln Hines | Assistant Professor at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Fellow with the Carnegie China Fellowship at the University of Maryland .

• Dayana Alagirova | PhD student at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Fulbright Scholar, and space policy researcher .

Hosts:

• Sheena Chestnut Greitens
• Ryan Vest

Producer:

• Jordan Morning