Despite US President Donald Trump’s “landmark” investment deals with Saudi Arabia valued at US$600 billion announced this week, China’s deeply entrenched position in the region is not in jeopardy as the two economic giants vie for influence there, analysts said.
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China’s manufacturing and infrastructure-building prowess remain formidable amid Beijing and Washington’s intensifying competition in the Gulf’s hi-tech sectors.
To be sure, Monday’s announced deals – signed by Trump with great fanfare in Riyadh as a phalanx of American billionaires looked on – certainly grabbed headlines.
“This is a ‘milestone’ in terms of both the numbers and the scope of the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia,” said Fan Hongda, a Middle East scholar at Shanghai International Studies University.
“During the second Trump administration, US relations with the Gulf states will gain strength and US influence over the Middle East as a whole will also increase,” he added.
The sweeping investment agreements encompassing arms sales, artificial intelligence, energy cooperation and infrastructure were significantly larger than those signed during President Xi Jinping’s 2022 visit, whose deals totalled nearly US$30 billion, according to state broadcaster Al Ekhbari.
