China's Camp David Moment?

The Camp David Accord of 1978 was a diplomatic coup for President Jimmy Carter.

- AMRITPAL KAUR

It was an accord that brought open hostilities between Israel and Egypt to an end and brought peace to the Sinai Peninsula. Though President Sadat of Egypt had to pay for the accord with his life, it was an unprecedented moment in West Asia when a major Arab country concluded a pact with the Jewish State.

It was also an exhibition of American diplomatic heft, a stroke of politics of optics where Muslim and Jewish states could be brought to the negotiation table.

One assumption of world power is the belief that mediation would be welcomed by parties engaged in disputes to break the stalemate as well as find lasting solutions. Camp David is an example that brings currency to the idea that a powerful mediator can possibly bring seemingly antagonistic parties together and alter the tone of international relations. It also emphasizes psychological acceptance of the greater power by other nations. It is an announcement of the superpower on the global stage.

Though US superiority could be contested even then, Egypt and Israel did not accept the terms of the agreement easily and were forced into the accord. What perhaps cannot be denied is America’s ability to project itself as an accepted power of global consequence.

Recently, China sought to enact its own Camp David moment through a deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Saudi Arabia is the leading Sunni country and Iran is an undisputed Shia leader. For decades these countries have been at loggerheads with differences stemming from their alternate Islamic belief systems and competitive bids to be undisputed leader of the Islamic world.