China is the world’s biggest importer of oil and the Middle East is a region for market access, and location of vast energy reserves to fuel China’s economic growth.

Arabia’s construction, telecommunications, infrastructure and petrochemical sectors, according to NTU.

At the same time, however, China is seeking to forge cultural links with the opening in the Gulf of the first Confucius Institutes, China’s equivalent of Britain’s British Council or France’s Alliance Francaise.

Additionally, as an estimated 60 percent of Chinese exports travel through the Suez Canal, China has invested heavily in the channel’s ports. Investments include a $1 billion quay and $416 million container terminal in Al-Adabiyya.

Nevertheless, Xi’s January 2016 visit to the Middle East illustrated the increasing degree to which China is walking a tightrope in its efforts to avoid being mired in the region’s animosities. While Xi made sure that he visited both Riyadh and Tehran, he left little doubt that the lifting of international sanctions on Iran would allow China to reinforce its energy ties with that country.

Meanwhile, the CEPC initiative could be a long, tortuous affair with plenty of bumps in the road ahead. According to a report in the Financial Times, Pakistani interests have expressed concern that the terms of business deals with China and its industries might undermine Pakistan’s business community, and even its sovereignty. The argument is that procurement and bidding procedures around CPEC greatly favor Beijing, with Chinese companies winning Chinese contracts to build and finance infrastructure in Pakistan, in deals often guaranteed by Islamabad, said the report.

And there are drawbacks for Pakistan in becoming too dependent on China — its trade deficit with China has doubled in recent years. On the other hand, the Pakistani military is fully behind an alliance with China as a counterweight to its arch-enemy, India.

For China, the most obvious risk is that Pakistan ultimately proves unable to pay its debts, and that it becomes as undependable a client as it has been for the US.

In the interim, the Chinese have hit major obstacles on the ground. Gwadar and the surrounding territory are located in the volatile Pakistani province of Balochistan, an area that is wracked with terrorism and a separatist rebellion. This year, Chinese workers in Pakistan have faced kidnappings, drive-by shootings and bomb attacks.

For their part, Middle Eastern countries must take care when they deal with China/Pakistan for fear of upsetting India.

Such issues show that the challenges facing Beijing in developing the CEPC are significant — as are the potential rewards.