'China, Saudi Arabia Broaden Ties Under U.S. Security Umbrella'

from world politics review..........

"The United States spends around $40 billion to $50 billion per year to protect the free flow of oil from the Persian Gulf to the global economy, more than the entire defense budgets of all but a few countries. China, by comparison, spends virtually nothing on Gulf security, while pursuing its strategy of building political and economic relations with oil-rich countries in order to secure oil for its growing economy. This is nowhere more apparent than in China's relations with Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil power."
 
"Saudi officials increasingly see the writing on the Great Wall: China will be their biggest oil market in the future, making it important to cultivate good relations with Beijing. Riyadh's ties to China are expanding beyond the oil trade and deepening in the area of refining operations. Saudi Aramco, the national oil company, is partnering with the China National Petroleum Corporation to build a new refinery in China's Yunnan province with a projected capacity of 200,000 barrels a day. Aramco also recently signed an agreement with China's state-owned Sinopec oil company to cooperate in the operation of the giant Yanbu refinery on the Saudi Red Sea coast."..........read more here