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Over the decades, Middle Eastern security has been influenced by both strong regional and global security interdependence. Since the end of the Cold War, Washington has played a leading security role in the region, providing an extended nuclear umbrella for its allies in the Gulf Cooperation Council organization. However, the U.S. strategic pivot to the Asia-Pacific region and China’s rising profile as a global power has set the Middle East’s security dynamics again into flux. This article employs a regional security complex framework, paired with a realist theoretical lens, to analyze how the growing Sino-American rivalry is affecting Arabian Gulf security by identifying the regional interests of these two powers and examining the emerging regional security dynamics.