Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat is an independent journalist and researcher based in Indonesia, Qatar, and the UK. His areas of research focus primarily on China's foreign policy in the Middle East, Indonesia-Middle East relations, Indonesian politics, and disability rights. Muhammad has lived in the Middle East for the past nine years and has traveled extensively across the region. He holds a B.A. in International Affairs from Qatar University and an M.A. in International Politics from the University of Manchester. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D on Chinese regional hegemony at Manchester.