Marking a turnaround in its Mideast policy, Beijing recently unveiled a plan to promote peace and stability in the region. Completing an official tour of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman this week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi conveyed China’s willingness to take on a more proactive role in solving issues in the Middle East.

Announcing the details of Wang's trip, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying stated the purpose was to grow a “synergy between the building of new development paradigm in China and major development strategies in those countries, support regional countries’ fight against the virus and socio-economic recovery, boost high-quality” cooperation on Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, “and discuss win-win cooperation,” as well as to “contribute China’s wisdom to maintain peace in the Middle East.”

With an emphasis on cooperation for the Belt and Road Initiative — a huge infrastructure project spanning Europe to East Asia — Beijing might try to settle regional issues by asking the member states to work on deriving immediate gains from the initiative and move on from unsolved disputes where possible.

Having signed on to the Belt and Road Initiative in recent years, all six of the countries Wang visited have an important role in the megaproject and unity will be required to achieve sustainable results. Putting forward a five-point proposal during his stop in Riyadh, Wang not only offered to mediate the Israel-Palestine issue and host peace talks in China, but he also kept the revival of the Iran nuclear deal a top priority.