U.S.-China Technological Rivalry in the Middle East (2011-2025): From Soft Power to Digital Structural Influence

Abstract

This study examines the technological competition between the United States and the People’s Republic of China in the Middle East from 2011 to 2025, within the context of broader transformations in the international system. It is grounded in the premise that digital technology has moved beyond its conventional role as technical infrastructure to become a structural component of soft power and strategic influence.

The study adopts an analytical framework that integrates constructivist and liberal institutionalist perspectives to explain how digital infrastructure, data platforms, and communication networks reshape power relations among states. It focuses on the Middle East as a key arena of this competition, particularly given the region’s accelerating digital transformation.

The analysis is structured around three interconnected dimensions: the reconceptualization of soft power in the digital age, a comparative assessment of U.S. and Chinese technological strategies in the region, and an examination of regional state responses to this rivalry.

The findings indicate that Sino-American technological competition is reshaping the region’s digital architecture, contributing to the emergence of a partially fragmented technological environment. At the same time, Middle Eastern states exhibit strategic agency by adopting hedging and balancing strategies that enhance their autonomy while leveraging the benefits of great-power competition.