As of 2020, China replaced the EU as the Gulf Cooperation Council’s largest trading partner. Saudi Arabia was China’s top supplier of crude oil in 2021.
Its neighbor, the UAE, has become an important platform for re-exporting Chinese goods into the region and Africa.Additionally, Qatar has become an essential natural gas supplier to China.
“There is a very strong China moment in the GCC that has been built over the past 15 years of (trade) relations,” said Mohammed Al-Sudairi, head of the Asian Studies Program at King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies.
He pointed out that the general assessment across GCC is that relations with China are much more important than before.”—Arab News
