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Events • October 22, 2025 

# A Costly Distraction: US–China Competition in the Middle East 

The United States continues to allocate substantial military and diplomatic resources to counter Chinese influence in the Middle East. However, Beijing has shown little interest in assuming a dominant security role in the region, raising doubts about the effectiveness of framing US engagement through the lens of great-power competition. As policymakers debate the United States’ global commitments, a critical assessment of the rationale, risks, and opportunity costs of current US policy in the Middle East is necessary.

This forum will bring together leading experts to examine China’s core regional interests, the risks of overstating China’s ability and desire to dominate the Middle East, and opportunities to better align US force posture with actual interests in the region.

Join us at the Cato Institute for a timely conversation on the future of US strategy in the Middle East.

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This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). 

##### Featuring 

[![Jon Hoffman cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2024-05/jon-hoffman-portrait-cropped.jpg?itok=_ZK8UIoh)](/people/jon-hoffman) 

##### [Jon Hoffman](/people/jon-hoffman)

Research Fellow, Cato Institute

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![Jennifer Kavanagh](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2024-06/Jennifer-Kavannagh.jpeg?itok=rro3IyyC) 

##### Jennifer Kavanagh 

Senior Fellow & Director of Military Analysis at Defense Priorities

![Rosemary Kelanic](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2025-10/rosemary-kelanic.jpg?itok=FJf0f7bY) 

##### Rosemary Kelanic 

Director, Middle East Program, Defense Priorities

[![Lawrence Montreuil - cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2024-10/2024-07-25-Headshot-Lawrence%20Montreuil-min%20%281%29_0.jpg?itok=9ENvvOwD)](/people/lawrence-montreuil) 

##### [Lawrence Montreuil](/people/lawrence-montreuil)

Vice President for Public Affairs

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