............."The logical conclusion led Saudi envoys to Beijing. As a mutually autocratic state with little interest in Saudi domestic reforms and a power on the rise, China was an obvious and attractive option to pursue.
Saudi Arabia was on familiar ground in China. The kingdom's relationship with Beijing dated back to the 1980s, when Beijing acted as a clearinghouse for arms headed for Afghanistan and as an increasingly hungry customer for Saudi crude. The first signs that a Sino-Saudi relationship could bear strategic fruit came in 1988 when Saudi Arabia purchased 36 CSS-2 intermediate range ballistic missiles, and nine launchers."
from asia times...
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