On November 25, 2024, the 127th lecture of the Think Tank Construction Lecture Series of the Middle East Studies Institute (MESI) of Shanghai International Studies University (SISU), which was also one of the SISU 75th Anniversary “Academic Month” Frontier Research Lecture Series, was held at Songjiang Campus. Researcher Zhang Yuan of the MESI at SISU was invited to give a lecture titled The Security Dilemma in the Middle East and the Chinese Solution. The lecture was hosted by Associate Professor Han Jianwei of the MESI at SISU, nearly thirty students and faculty members on campus attended this lecture.

In this lecture, researcher Zhang Yuan started the topic with the political-historical roots behind the definition of the geographic scope of the Middle East region, and by comparing the traditional observation profiles of the Middle East dilemma such as domain-oriented, problem-oriented, event-oriented, and relationship-oriented, she deduced the strategic solutions for moving from the dilemma to the smooth and even the straight path. Then, she pointed out that the Middle East is currently facing nine layers of intertwined security dilemmas, including the dilemma of time, order, intervention, neighbors, leaders, loyalty, self-preservation, and exodus. Finally, relying on the Global Security Initiative Concept Paper and China's practice of great power diplomacy with Chinese characteristics in the Middle East, Zhang Yuan analyzed China's wisdom and solutions to deal with the security dilemma in the Middle East.

After the lecture, Zhang Yuan also interacted with the students on the significance of the Saudi-Iranian reconciliation in resolving the security dilemma in the Middle East, and the civilization exchanges and mutual understanding between China and the Middle East countries, and answered their questions in detail.

Finally, Associate Professor Han Jianwei summarized the lecture and expressed her gratitude to researcher Zhang Yuan for her wonderful lecture and the active participation of teachers and students.