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Are the Middle East and Asia growing closer in the age of Trump?



((CNN)The Middle East and Asia are growing closer in the wake of US President Donald Trump's election, experts say, after a series of high-profile visits teased broader diplomatic and economic ties between the two regions.
Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang pushed for a free trade agreement in a meeting with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu in Beijing Monday, according to China's state media, during a three-day trip by the Israeli Prime Minister.
    It was Netanyahu's second Asian trip in 2017, after visiting Singapore and Australia in February.
    Netanyahu's visit came less than a week after King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud met with President Xi Jinping on March 16, as part of a month-long Asia tour which included Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan.
    Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (left) accompanies Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu inside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 20, 2017.
    La Trobe University professor of international relations Nick Bisley told CNN that Middle Eastern countries have begun to rethink their place in the world as the US begins to withdraw from the global stage.
    "Israel and Saudi Arabia are the first part of a trend where, although the Middle East isn't going to change its name, it will be greater South West Asia, somewhere between the West and East," he said.
    But Rodger Shanahan, research fellow at Sydney's Lowy Institute, said Israel and Saudi Arabia weren't about to abandon their close ties to the United States.
    "One-off visits make a big splash and give the impression of significant engagement but ... if it's just a one off, it's not reorientation. It's just a toe in the water," he said.

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