MUST-READS

• Present without impact? How the Middle East perceives China’s diplomatic engagement

  In a new Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative issue brief, “Present without impact? How the Middle East perceives China’s diplomatic engagement,” Jonathan Fulton argues that despite economic advancements and high-profile diplomatic engagements, China’s influence remains largely economic rather than political. Middle Eastern perceptions of China vary; it is seen as a cautious, transactional actor with limited capacity for addressing key regional conflicts and security concerns. Fulton adds that while Iran views China as a crucial partner, Gulf states leverage their ties with Beijing to maintain strategic flexibility.

• Saudi Aramco Oil Sales to China Set to Fall Sharply in April

  Saudi Aramco is set to supply the lowest amount of oil to China in several months, even as the OPEC+ cartel gears up to boost output. The state-owned Saudi Arabian major will send 34 million to 36 million barrels of April-loading crude to customers in China, the world’s biggest importer, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That compares with 41 million for March, and a figure below 36 million would be the smallest since at least the first half of last year.

• China, Iran and Russia hold joint naval drills in Middle East as tensions rise between Tehran and US

  The joint drills, called the Maritime Security Belt 2025, took place in the Gulf of Oman near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Arabian Gulf through which a fifth of all crude oil traded worldwide passes. The area around the strait in the past has seen Iran seize commercial ships and launch suspected attacks in the time since President Donald Trump first unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.

• Is Saudi Arabia the next China or India? See for yourself

  For decades, Saudi Arabia has been viewed through an increasingly outdated lens—an oil-rich kingdom dependent on energy exports and held back by regional politics and what some describe as a fundamentalist Islamist past. That perception is so 20th century. Saudi Arabia is not the next China or the next India. With a population of just more than 33 million, this kingdom on the move is evolving into something entirely its own. Ranked as the world’s 19th-largest economy and the seventh largest in Asia, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) data, with a GDP of approximately $1.14 trillion, Saudi Arabia is leveraging its oil wealth to transition beyond dependence on fossil fuels.

• Opinion: Gulf-China relations are strictly business

  Hardly a day goes by without a story about China’s growing presence in the Gulf, which is a remarkable transition. When I started working on a PhD focusing on China-GCC relations in 2011, an economist at a regional sovereign wealth fund dismissed the project out of hand: “How are you going to write 100,000 words on selling cheap stuff and buying oil”? Nearly 15 years later the narrative has shifted hard in the other direction, with China generally considered a major external power in the region. That does not mean its role in the Gulf is any better understood.  First and foremost, the Gulf remains a place to get energy. For decades, China has had a voracious appetite for imported oil and gas and it will continue to be the world’s largest importer in the near term. Gulf countries typically provide it with between 40-50 percent of its crude oil imports and an increasingly large percentage of its LNG.

• China Harbour’s moduling building factory begins operations in Saudi Arabia

  Spanning approximately 200,000 square meters, the factory will supply prefabricated components for the Sedra project's fully modular villas, while laying the industrial foundation for future prefabricated construction initiatives in Saudi Arabia, the CHEC announced in a statement on Sunday. At the inauguration ceremony on Sunday, Iain McBride, head of commercial at Saudi ROSHN Real Estate Company, praised the factory's remarkable speed of completion, commending its design, construction quality, and safety standards.

• China’s delicate balancing act in Yemen

  Despite an optimistic start, the Mar. 2023 China-brokered agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore diplomatic ties faces an uncertain future. Anticipating potential setbacks, Beijing has ramped up its diplomatic engagement in the region, particularly in Yemen—a critical flashpoint that has been stuck in a fragile stalemate for close to three years. China’s key objectives are to preserve the progress achieved through the Beijing Accord, sustain the Iranian-Saudi detente, and prevent a renewed escalation in Yemen—which risks drawing Riyadh and Tehran back into confrontation.

• China’s solar, wind power installations soared to record in 2024
  China broke its own records for new wind and solar power installations again last year, official data showed on Tuesday, accelerating from a breakneck pace set in 2023 as the country looks to peak its carbon emissions before 2030. Installed solar and wind power capacity climbed 45.2% and 18%, respectively, in 2024, the National Energy Administration said on Tuesday. There is now 886.67 GW of installed solar power, up from 609.49 GW in 2023, it said. The United States had 139 GW in 2023, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.

• Saudi Arabia economy minister says Riyadh ready to work with Trump amid US-China tensions

  Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal Alibrahim has affirmed the Kingdom’s readiness to engage constructively with the second Trump administration, emphasizing a stable long-term strategy amidst US-China tensions. Alibrahim outlined Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic efforts to maintain regional stability and accelerate economic diversification during an interview with Al Arabiya’s Hadley Gamble on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF). “We look forward to working with the second Trump administration, as we have worked with previous administrations, to address and counter some of the global challenges we’re facing, including the tepid economic growth that we’re witnessing as a global community today,” he said, reflecting on the two parties’ alliance that has spanned eight decades.

• China and Saudi Arabia: A Deepening Strategic Partnership

  Increasing political, strategic, and economic engagements with the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has been a notable feature of Chinese foreign policy, especially since the launch of its flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013. One of the key countries with which China has strengthened its engagement is Saudi Arabia. The kingdom is an important regional power, with influence in the Arab-Islamic world as well as in the global energy market. In December 2022, during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Riyadh, the two countries signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement that underlined the growing Chinese inroads into a region that has traditionally been regarded as an American sphere of influence.^[1] The China-Saudi Arabia strategic partnership has the potential to impact the geopolitical makeup of the entire region, which is part of India’s extended neighbourhood.

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