MUST-READS

• China’s exports fall most in three years as global economy falters

  China's exports fell last month at their fastest pace since the onset three years ago of the COVID-19 pandemic, as an ailing global economy puts mounting pressure on Chinese policymakers for fresh stimulus measures. Momentum in China's post-COVID recovery has slowed after a brisk pickup in the first quarter, with analysts now downgrading their projections for the economy for the rest of the year. Outbound shipments from the world's second-largest economy slumped a worse-than-expected 12.4% year-on-year in June, data from China's Customs Bureau showed on Thursday, following a drop of 7.5% in May.

• Saudis to supply full oil volumes to Asia in August, China requests less again – sources

  Saudi Aramco (2222.SE) has informed some clients in North Asia they will receive full nominated volumes of crude oil in August, several sources with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday, while top buyer China once again requested for less supply. The world's biggest oil exporter last week said it would extend its 1 million barrels-per-day (bpd) output cut by another month to August and hiked the prices for most of the crude grades it sends to Asian customers for a second month. Some Chinese refiners, however, both state-owned and mega-sized independent refineries, have asked for lower supply in August, according to four trading sources.

• Saudi Arabia to enhance economic ties with China

  Saudi Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Alswaha is leading the delegation on the first official tour of senior government officials since the China-Saudi Arabia summit last December. They visited Hong Kong on Sunday before coming to the Chinese mainland. Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on Sunday that he has felt “a deep sense of warmth and friendship” in the exchanges since his visit to Saudi Arabia in February. Lee said Hong Kong’s annual Belt and Road Summit will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative in September and will feature a dedicated Middle East forum for the first time.

• Saudi Arabia to deepen ties with Hong Kong, using city as the bridge to mainland China’s ‘world class’ digital prowess, minister says

  Key areas of collaboration with Hong Kong include fintech, technological entrepreneurship and strategies to attract the funding of venture capitalists (VC), said the Saudi Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Al-Swaha. Health sciences and biotechnology, the environment, cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI) - specifically generative AI - and smart cities are other areas that the kingdom is keen to strike partnerships on, he said.

• Saudi Arabia’s big-spending league seeks to avoid China’s failed gamble

  Even before this new influx, the league had the best foreign players of any in Asia. In terms of international exposure, it is also no contest. Famous players went to China and virtually disappeared on the other side of the Great Firewall. Ronaldo, the ultimate influencer, keeps his 600 million instagram followers fully updated as to what he, and his family, are up to. Other stars will do the same.

• Saudi Arabia’s big-spending league seeks to avoid China’s failed gamble

  Even before this new influx, the league had the best foreign players of any in Asia. In terms of international exposure, it is also no contest. Famous players went to China and virtually disappeared on the other side of the Great Firewall. Ronaldo, the ultimate influencer, keeps his 600 million instagram followers fully updated as to what he, and his family, are up to. Other stars will do the same.

• Economy minister heads Saudi delegation to WEF’s 2023 Annual Meeting of New Champions in China

  Alibrahim is one of more than 1,500 global leaders from the public and private sectors, civil societies and international organizations attending the event, which will seek to find solutions to critical global challenges, such as energy transformation and planet conservation.

• Perspective: Is Middle Eastern Stability on the Horizon Thanks to U.S.-China Competition?

  One theme of the present moment is that countries in the Middle East are making deals based on their own national interests rather than dancing to the tune of outsiders. This independence is paradoxically because of great power rivalry in the region, not despite it. With heightened rivalry between great powers, regional powers have more options and are acting more as free agents than committed allies of global powers.

• Russia Set to Overtake Saudi Arabia in Battle for China’s Oil Market

  Since the beginning of the war, Saudi Arabia has been steadily losing market share in China—the world’s biggest energy market—thanks to Russia selling its oil at steep discounts. A production cut from Saudi Arabia earlier this month didn’t have the desired effect of boosting prices to compensate for the dip in demand.

• Chart: China Still Favored Over U.S. In MENA, But Losing Ground

  According to the survey, the share of people saying they wanted stronger economic relations with China has dropped in many of the countries since the same question was asked in 2018-19. Jordanians and Palestinians are now 20 percentage points less likely to want stronger economic ties with China than before, while Sudan saw a 14 percentage point decrease and Libya and Morocco a 13 percentage point decrease. In terms of the U.S. there has not been as widespread a decline since 2018-19. Only the Palestinian territories (-10 p.p.) and Jordan (-9 p.p.) have seen major declines while Sudan (-2 p.p.) and Morocco (-1 p.p.) saw smaller drops and Iraq (+11 p.p.), Tunisia (+9 p.p.) and Libya (+6 p.p.) saw increases.

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