Song Jiang Bo

For many years, the influence of regional and trans-regional actors in the Middle East and their struggles to dominate the region has become one of the most important debates among international relations scholars. China is one of these emerging powers that has always been trying to compete with the United States by entering and dominating this strategic region. Accordingly, China has launched the Belt and Road Initiative as a step towards achieving this goal. Chinese experts repeatedly emphasized on the importance of the development of connecting infrastructures in the Middle East and their role in integrating the Middle East countries. Many of them believed that developing these infrastructures can deepen integration in this region. What is missing in many analyses in different think tanks, even in the Belt and Road news research centers, is the existence of many obstacles for the regional integration. Therefore, the basic aim of the study is to examine the impact of these infrastructures on the development of integration in the Middle East while considering various obstacles. In this regard, this piece of research work seeks to address this important question as to what are the main obstacles for the realization of Belt Road Initiative in the development of integration in Middle East? The hypothesis to answer the question is that conflicting cultural, ethnic and political values, religious and ethnic divisions, competition of member states, dominance of security discourse and rivalries of trans-regional powers, security dependence of member countries on trans-regional powers and most importantly the lack of complementary economies are among the most important obstacles to the realization of this economic project.