China-Saudi Arabia Relations, 1990-2012

Naser M. Al-Tamimiholds holds a Ph.D. in Government and International Relations from Durham University, UK, and is a Middle East analyst with a special interest in energy politics and political economy of countries of the Middle East. In this book, he focuses on the recent relationship between Saudi Arabia, the largest oil exporter, and China which has recently emerged as the second largest economy in the world. There is no ideological basis for the relationship between China and Saudi Arabia; their relationship being purely commercial in nature. China is an ancient civilization while Saudi Arabia is a modern conservative Kingdom (KSA) which came into existence as recently as 1932. As Naser al-Tamimi demonstrates, commercial relationship between such countries develops to their mutual advantage, hence the sub-title of the book Marriage of Convenience or Strategic Alliance. Al-Tamimi’s book is highly informative as it explains the Sino-Saudi relations with special reference to their mutual interests. For instance, Saudi Arabia exports petro-chemicals for plastic products, while the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) imports finished products such as electronics, textile goods and food grains. The bulk of Saudi export to China is crude oil. The author claims that the volume of trade increased 154 times between 1990 and 2011. In 2011, both countries increased their trade by almost 50%. Thus, China overtook the USA to become Saudi Arabia’s top trade partner. In 2009, new agreements were signed between the two countries to co-operate in oil, gas and mining industry, including the Makkah Mono-rail project. (p. 131) In 2011, the bilateral trade between China and Saudi Arabia reached US $60 billion dollars.