China’s conduct of health diplomacy to address public health challenges in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has become increasingly important in recent years. China has offered medical aid and assistance to many countries in the region, including sending equipment; providing expertise, training and capacity building support to healthcare professionals; providing support for vaccine research and development; signing agreements with governments to build and upgrade healthcare facilities; and promoting collaboration between Chinese and MENA health organizations, through various initiatives, such as South-South cooperation and the Health Silk Road. Aiming at strengthening political and economic ties between China and the countries of the Middle East, all these endeavors have played a key part of China's broader diplomatic effort to showcase China's growing global influence. To analyze China’s increasing presence in the MENA, the paper draws not only from the theories of social power and smart power but also from numerous interviews with Chinese health practitioners and government officials who have collaborated with their counterparts in the MENA region. The study proposes to use the concept of social power and smart power, arguing that persuasion (hard power) and attraction (soft power) can no longer fully comprehend 21st century power politics. Coined by Peter van Ham, social power allows to connect the dots between geopolitics and states’ hegemonic ambitions, institutions, public diplomacy, place branding, and agenda setting in international relations. A state’s social power is its ability to push a preferred foreign policy frame and thus tilt the playing field, by setting, without coercion, the structural conditions needed to achieve foreign policy goals.