CHINA, the world’s second-largest consumer of oil, is poised to buy more Saudi oil than the United States does. Last year it actually did so, though this year’s figures suggest that the Americans may again be level-pegging as the biggest buyer. In the next two years, however, China looks set to become consistently the Saudis’ key customer. Moreover, the Saudis are also now buying more Chinese goods—mostly food, textiles, hardware and heavy industrial stuff—than American ones.
Since he came to the throne in 2005, King Abdullah has adopted a pro-Asian, “look east” trade policy. More than half of Saudi oil now goes to Asia, against around 14%, at the latest count, to the United States. Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, owns a refinery in Qingdao province and has another, in Fujian, as a joint venture with Sinopec, a Chinese petroleum giant, and ExxonMobil, an American one. Meanwhile, Chinese firms have begun to invest in infrastructure and industry in Saudi Arabia, including in an aluminium smelter in the southern province of Jizan, at a cost of $3 billion. Saudi Arabia now sends students on scholarships to Chinese universities, and some rich Saudis, more used to shopping for Gucci in New York or London, are heading to once-obscure Chinese cities to buy furniture.
A Cinha continua a extender os seus tentáculos e a Arábia Saudita dá a sua mãozinha, ajudando a grande economia asiática com aquilo que mais necessita: o ouro negro. Em termos simples, a China vai solidificando as suas ligações diplomáticas e económicas, de forma a que o sue ritmo de crescimento continue imparável (mal-grado a inflação e a possível bolha imobiliária). Os EUA que se cuidem, a necessidade da Arábia Saudita de know-how e de equipamento militar não pode ser encarada como segurança de exclusividade de relações. Muita da geopolítica, da sua definição, do Séc.XXI irá passar pelo Médio Oriente.
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