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in: Türk Tarihçiliğinde Kırk Yıl: Porf. Dr. Mustafa Yılmaz'a Armağan, Sadık Erbaş,Seyfi Yıldırım, Editor, Siyasal Kitabevi, Ankara, pp.341-358, 2023
Following the downfall of Gaddafi regime in 2011, Libya has been plagued by uncertainties and violence that brought about negative effect on Libya’s economy and people’s livelihood. China, as an important trade partner, not only need energy from Libya, and but also has strong trade ties as well as long standing cooperation on large contract projects. China’s approach to Libyan crisis has been staying in between without antagonizing either side of the conflict, while securing the best advantages from the situation.
This study starts with an historical overview of Sino-Libyan relations to explore the origins of China’s nonalignment policy in Libya, then, proceeds to give overall information on Chinese business engagement during Gaddafi’s rule. By evaluating the impact of China’s diplomatic maneuvering, this study tries to highlight how China managed to adopt flexible stance to make best gains out of the Libyan crisis. In other words, the shaky situation in Libya inevitably brings about not only impact on China’s economy but also new opportunities and challenges to the future cooperation of economy and trade between the two countries. While China is facing the changing situation in Libya, obtaining benefits while avoiding disadvantages is her main concern.