This volume provides a multi-disciplinary and trans-regional approach to the historical roots and continued development of ties between the Middle East and Asia, from Muslim-Confucian relations to nuclear technology exchange between China and Saudi Arabia. The papers are contributed by specialists who live, research, and have spent considerable time in the Middle East and Asia including institutions in Japan, Israel, China and Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Kuwait, Philippines, Australia, Malaysia, North Africa, Indonesia, Lebanon and Syria, India and Kashmir, Egypt, and Korea. The contributors include academics, policy makers and consultants, leaders in international business, law professionals, and military.

The goal of this edited volume is to reach out to the research, diplomatic, and commercial communities. The subjects are addressed to attract individuals and groups from academia, think-tanks, NGOs, members of Congress, the US government, the private sector, and those involved in the policy-making, strategic planning, and public diplomacy in the fields of transnational studies, across-cultural comparison, international relations, energy security, global Islamism, Islamic fundamentalism, and terrorism.

The chapters in this volume are broadly divided into three main areas: (I) Cultural and Historical Connections (II) Transnational Allegiances and Local Culture in Asia, and (III) Strategic Relations between Asia and the Middle East.