Is the West being economically outflanked in the Middle East by China? Is the Renminbi now a strong alternative trade option for the Middle East trade? Have events in Gaza damaged U.S. trade and political prospects.-------------------------------------------- Nicolas Michelon Managing Partner at Alagan Partners, a corporate geoeconomics consultancy in Dubai. He advises multinational companies, institutional investors and family offices on geopolitical & geo-economic risk, supply chain resilience, strategic foresight and tech startup investment in the GCC, Asia-Pacific, Türkiye and Europe. He is also a Business Partner at Alagan.Tech Solutions, an Istanbul-based sustainability and mobility solutions advisory firm. Nicolas has worked for 15 years in Hong Kong, Singapore & Japan as an economist (French Ministry of Finance, seconded to the Consulate General of France in Hong Kong), financial analyst (KPMG in Hong Kong), portfolio manager (Schroders in Singapore) and more recently as a corporate geoeconomics and strategic intelligence consultant specialized in the Global South. Regularly featured in business media in the UAE & Türkiye, and a conference speaker  he is also an Adjunct Professor & Guest Lecturer in geopolitics, geoeconomics and strategic intelligence at ESCP Business School (Paris), Galatasaray University (Istanbul), University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (Rabat), and the Paris School of Economic Warfare, and a member of the International Consortium for the Study of Economic Leverage in Peace and Conflict (ICEL) coordinated by King’s College London.