SAUDI ARABIA AND CHINA RELATIONS

<p><span lang="EN-US">The first relations between Arab countries and the People's Republic of China were established at the Bandung Conference in Indonesia in 1955. The cooling of China's relations with the Soviet Union led to the thawing of the ice between China and Saudi Arabia. In the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, Western countries and the United States sided with Israel, while China sided with the Arab countries. Oil-exporting Arab countries, led by Saudi Arabia, imposed an embargo on the sale of oil to countries that supported Israel in this war, which caused great concern in Western countries. China, which grew economically with the economic reform and foreign expansion policy initiated by Deng Xiaoping in 1978, became an oil importer in 1993 due to its increasing energy demand. Saudi Arabia's pro-Western policy made it reluctant to establish relations with Beijing, unlike other Arab countries that had established relations with China in various fields. The coldness between China and the USSR and the emergence of warm relations with the United States, and a number of measures taken by Beijing, prompted Riyadh to reconsider its relations with Beijing. As a result, Saudi Arabia established consular relations between China and Saudi Arabia in early 1990, and embassy relations in July.</span></p>