Even as China continues to foster closer relations with Iran and its regional proxies—notably the Houthis in Yemen—it isn't doing so at the stake of its relationship with Saudi Arabia or the other Gulf States. It was then 20 years ago, in July 2004 that China and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)—which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates—launched the first free trade agreement negotiations.

Likewise, Saudi Arabia remains the largest of China's trading partners in the region. This has led to concerns in Washington that Riyadh's close ties to Beijing could see China become Saudi Arabia's primary ally, displacing the United States.

"So far, China has not only been able to balance its relationships with Tehran and the GCC but in fact has leveraged it to its advantage, taking credit for brokering a normalization deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which was actually initiated and mostly managed by Iraq and Oman," said Irina Tsukerman, geopolitical analyst and president of threat assessment firm Scarab Rising.

Saudi Arabia Ties With China—Oil and More

Even as crude exports fell 10.8% in 2024, Saudi Arabia has remained one of the top energy providers for China, second after Russia.

The ties between Beijing and Riyadh go much deeper than just the oil in Saudi Arabia's ground. The strategic relationship between the two countries has been growing for years.

"Some of the more conservative political factions in the Kingdom have reoriented towards the Beijing markets, and prefer to deal with other corrupt authoritarian regimes than with Western states that generally demand transparency, accountability, democratic reforms, and demand for human rights," Tsukerman suggested. "We have seen the political struggle among these factions in Saudi Arabia reflected in external policy. When the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's influence was at its peak, at least outwardly, business with the U.S. and Europe was expanding rapidly, and projects related to Vision2030 such as Neom focused on American contractors and integration deals with Israel."

As a result, when more "Old Guard" factions regained political control as Salman's reputation was tarnished by political campaigns and the Biden administration's political pressure, Chinese and Indian contractors replaced Americans in Neom—the planned community being built in Saudi Arabia's Tabuk Province—and in other business sectors throughout the Kingdom, notably cybersecurity.

"China provided Saudi Arabia with the same surveillance technology as it sold to Iran, and also took control, via Huawei, of Saudi and other regional telecom networks. American and key regulated Israeli cyber tech is being replaced by Chinese variants, and China's business and political influence is expanding," said Tsukerman. "While the U.S. withdrew military support, China initiated a joint drone production factory in the Kingdom, and pushed for a building of a military base in UAE, relations with Qatar and Oman have been blossoming for years."

Beijing also had a major presence at last year's World Defense Show outside of Riyadh, with three dozen Chinese firms in attendance. There has been speculation that the growing Chinese influence may have contributed to the Biden Administration's decision to lift the nearly three-year-long ban on offensive weapons sales to Saudi Arabia—during which time China made inroads into the Chinese market.

The Long Game in the Middle East

It should also be noted too that Saudi students are now increasingly studying Chinese in schools, while many of the Chinese diplomats are not only Arabists, but have been educated in the GCC since birth and are fluent in local dialects and culture.

"China's influence in GCC is deep, pervasive, and spreading rapidly far beyond military agreements—a defense treaty is already in place with the Kingdom, outpacing prospective deals with the US—or favorable trade conditions," said Tsukerman. "All with very limited awareness or pushback by the U.S."

This is the final part in a three-part series on China's growing influence in the Middle East. Thank you to Irina Tsukerman for her insight.

Author Experience and Expertise: Peter Suciu

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].

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