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    "Sarah Yerkes"
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In The Media

The Burgeoning China-Tunisia Relationship: Short Term Reward, Long Term Risk

As the United States slowly disengages from the Middle East and Europe faces internal challenges, a new actor is quietly exerting greater influence across North Africa: China.

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By Sarah Yerkes
Published on Mar 23, 2023
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Project

Tunisia Monitor

Carnegie’s Tunisia Monitor project tracks the status of the country’s transition in the economic, political, and security spheres. This project provides original analysis and policy recommendations from a network of Tunisian contributors and Carnegie experts to inform decisionmakers in Tunisia, Europe, and the United States. This endeavor is supported by a grant from the Open Society Foundations.

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Bloomsbury Publishing

About the Author

Sarah Yerkes
Sarah Yerkes

Senior Fellow, Middle East Program

Sarah Yerkes is a senior fellow in Carnegie’s Middle East Program, where her research focuses on Tunisia’s political, economic, and security developments as well as state-society relations in the Middle East and North Africa.

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Sarah Yerkes
Senior Fellow, Middle East Program
Sarah Yerkes
Political ReformForeign PolicyMiddle EastNorth AfricaEast AsiaChina

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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