"Both Washington and Beijing seek stability, secure flow of energy, and a reduction of risks emanating from the Middle East"
But perhaps, to borrow from the Wall Street Journal’s headline on the news, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is “test driving a nonaligned foreign policy.” The announcement generated lukewarm responses from a trio of international security experts.
Brookings Institution senior fellow Ryan Hass says the deal shows that “US and Chinese interests in the region are not in fundamental tension,” and the Boeing deal following the Iran normalization will not generate too many ripples.
“Both Washington and Beijing seek stability, secure flow of energy, and a reduction of risks emanating from the Middle East,” he said. “At the same time, the US-Saudi relationship has changed considerably in recent years. In the current context, I expect Saudi leaders will be disappointed if they assume that their warming ties with China will generate leverage in their relationship with the US.”
Simon Henderson is the director of the Bernstein Program on Gulf and Energy Policy at the Washington Institute, specializing in energy matters and the conservative Arab states of the Persian Gulf. He lauded the Saudi move but also cautioned against reading too much into it.
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