Situating Saudi Arabia in China's Belt and Road Initiative

Abstract

Saudi Arabia's geostrategic location and role as a Middle East regional power, combined with its ambitious Saudi Vision 2030 development plan, make it an important Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) partner for China, which has become Saudi Arabia's largest trading partner. Despite mutual interests, the role of the United States as the dominant power in the Persian Gulf region means that the Sino-Saudi Arabia relationship must be managed in such a way that it does not directly challenge Washington. This article argues that China has followed a strategic hedging approach in developing its relations with Saudi Arabia, focusing on the economic and developmental goals of the BRI and Saudi Vision 2030 to avoid antagonizing the United States (US) while taking advantage of US regional security commitments.

China Ties with Iran and Saudi Arabia: A Critical Analysis of Changing Dynamics in Persian Gulf

“…Saudi Arabia has been actively advancing, through the (BRI) , its political and commercial ties with China. King Salman of Saudi Arabia formally endorsed (BRI) and conveyed his readiness to expand collaboration across all domains during President Xi's visit (Fulton, 2020).…”

India and the Gulf: Regional security and India's multialignment policy

“…On the contrary, Russia and many regional powers in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East do not see China's rise as a threat, rather as an opportunity. Hence, the Gulf countries have continued to improve their bilateral relations with China with burgeoning economic ties (Fulton, 2019(Fulton, , 2020a(Fulton, , 2020b, as well as Russia and arguably used this relations as hedging strategy with the United States (Samaan, 2019). Although maintaining ties with China and Russia can increasingly become a challenge, especially as US-China and US-Russia tensions rise with likely pressure on Gulf allies of the US to review their ties with both Beijing and Moscow.…”

“…Beijing is undertaking mega developmental projects of building transportation corridors, constructing ports, and developing new cities. Additionally, China is developing security cooperation with regional countries and is taking more interest in the regional politics, making its engagement strategic (Fulton, 2019(Fulton, , 2020bGarlick & Havlová, 2020;LIU, 2016;Mansour, 2019;Quilliam, 2016).…”

The Saudi Arabia–China relationship at a crossroad: A neoclassical realist analysis

“…On one side, Riyadh attempts to diversify its trade ties and seek more opportunities of development at the advent of what is being called the Asian century. Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 aims at reducing the Kingdom's dependence on oil and at pursuing economic diversification (Fulton, 2020a). On the other side, Beijing has launched the ambitious BRI to enhance China's connectivity and economic partnership with Eurasian countries by creating a China-centered global trade and production network (Rolland, 2017).…”