Saudis look east for new friendships
During a stay at a royal guesthouse in Riyadh last year, a former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia heard Chinese classical music playing in the background, instead of the usual American pop tunes. "I was struck by that," says Chas Freeman, the ex-envoy. "It meant to me that there was something new, a bit of flirtation with China going on."
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After a 14-day royal trip to Asia in late January - King Abdullah's first foray outside the region since he took over in August - Saudi Arabia's engagement with China appears to be going far beyond a flirtation.
Once dependent in its foreign policy almost exclusively on the US, Riyadh has been diversifying its friendships in recent years, with Asia, where demand for Saudi oil is at its highest, emerging as an important strategic partner. Saudi Arabia supplies China with about 14 per cent of its oil needs, and it is the source of 25 per cent of Indian oil imports.
The king's tour to China, India, Pakistan and Malaysia - for which the royal entourage of cabinet ministers, businessmen and even a women's delegation filled five aircraft - marked the most-high profile move in the reassessment of Saudi ties with the outside world.
In India, the Saudis pledged greater co-operation on terrorism and discussed possible Saudi investments. Perhaps most important, the visit helped balance the kingdom's relations in the region, where Pakistan has been one of the Saudis' closest traditional allies. The trip to China, meanwhile, was the first by a Saudi king since diplomatic relations were restored in 1990, and included crucial discussion about the construction of an oil storage base.
"The growth in our oil exports and petrochemicals will be China and India," says Fawaz al-Alami, adviser to the Saudi minister of commerce and industry. "Five years ago our trade with China was only $200m. Now it's $14bn [�11.6bn, ￡8bn] and in five years we expect it to be $45bn."
Senior Saudi officials insist the kingdom is not moving away from the US - commerce secretary Carlos Gutierrez visited Riyadh last weekend as part of a Middle East tour - or creating competing international alliances. "It's not about distancing the kingdom from any particular power. We're being very rational and realistic in how we calibrate our world view to reflect the realities of the future," says one official.
The crisis that erupted between the US and Saudi Arabia after the September 11 2001 attacks, waged by mostly Saudi extremists, has now subsided. Senior US officials have resumed regular visits to the kingdom and the two secretaries of state meet every six months to evaluate relations.
But the US-Saudi relationship, once largely based on the simple bargain of oil and security, has become more complex amid American pressures for political and religious reforms. The new American expectations have added momentum to the Saudis' pursuit of new, less cumbersome friends. Mr Freeman describes the Saudis' overtures towards China as the kingdom "taking a second wife" but not divorcing the US.
At a time when Saudi students still have difficulty obtaining visas to the US because of security concerns, Saudi oil and petrochemicals students have been visiting China and some are said to be learning Mandarin.
The rebalancing of foreign relations coincides with an unprecedented oil boom that has attracted Asian business to Saudi Arabia and sent Saudi investors looking for opportunities in the Indian and Chinese markets. Many American companies, meanwhile, are still worried about the threat of terrorism in the kingdom - heightened by last week's failed attack on the Abqaiq oil facility - and therefore reluctant to enhance their presence.
The most high-profile Saudi-Chinese deals so far include the 2005 joint venture between Saudi Aramco, Exxon Mobil and China's SinoPec to develop an ethylene and oil refining facility in Fujian province. In Saudi Arabia, Sinopec is an Aramco partner in a project to produce non-associated gas and condensates.
沙特石油向东流
去年，前美国驻沙特阿拉伯大使傅立民(Chas Freeman)在利雅得的一个国宾馆下榻期间，听到宾馆播放的背景音乐是中国古典乐曲，而非司空见惯的美国流行音乐。“这让我大为震惊，”傅立民表示。“在我看来，沙中关系取得了有点像‘逢场作戏’般的新进展。”
然而，在沙特皇室于今年1月底对亚洲国家进行了为期14天的国事访问之后，沙特与中国的关系似乎远远超越了“逢场作戏”的范畴。这是阿卜杜拉国王(King Abdullah)去年8月份加冕登基以来首次造访中东地区以外的国家。
沙特的外交政策曾经几乎完全依附于美国。但近年来，随着亚洲逐渐成为一个重要的战略伙伴，沙特也一直在发展多样化的外交关系。亚洲对沙特石油的需求目前正处于历史最高水平，中国约14%的石油需求由沙特供应，而印度25%石油进口也来自该国。
阿卜杜拉国王此次对中国、印度、巴基斯坦和马来西亚的国事访问，成为沙特重新评估与外部世界关系的行动中最为高调之举。其随行人员包括诸多内阁大臣和企业家，甚至还有一个妇女代表团，坐满了5架飞机。
在印度，沙特承诺将扩大反恐合作，并就潜在的投资事宜展开讨论。最为重要的，或许是此次访问有助于平衡与该地区的关系――在这里，巴基斯坦一直是沙特的亲密传统盟友之一。此外，阿卜杜拉国王最近访华，也是中沙两国1990年恢复外交关系以来沙特国王首次访问中国。其间，两国就兴建一个储油基地等重大问题进行探讨。
“我们石油出口和石化行业的增长点将在中国和印度，”沙特贸易与工业大臣的顾问法瓦兹?阿尔-阿拉米(Fawaz al-Alami)表示。“5年之前，我们与中国的贸易额仅为2亿美元，目前已经达到140亿美元，预计在5年内将达到450亿美元。”
沙特政府高级官员坚称，该国并未疏远与美国的关系，也未缔造竞争性的国际同盟。作为其中东之行的一站，美国商务部部长卡洛斯?古铁雷斯(Carlos Gutierrez)上周末刚刚访问了利雅得。沙特一位政府官员表示：“沙特并不是要疏远与某个大国的关系。在如何调整世界观以反映未来的现实方面，我们非常理智和现实。”
2001年爆发主要由沙特极端分子策动的“9/11事件”之后，美沙关系曾突现危机，但目前已得到缓和。美国政府高级官员已恢复定期访问沙特，美国国务卿与沙特外交大臣每6个月举行一次会晤，以评估双边关系。
美沙关系一度主要建立在简单的石油和安全交易的基础上，但由于美国对沙特施加政治和宗教改革压力，双边关系已越来越复杂。美国施加的压力，迫使沙特寻求不太给它找麻烦的新伙伴。傅立民将沙特向中国示好之举描述为沙特“纳妾”，却未休掉美国“原配”。
出于安全顾虑，沙特学生目前仍难以获得赴美签证。在这种情况下，沙特一些石油及石化专业学生选择前往中国，据说其中一些学生正在学习中文。
在沙特重新平衡外交关系之际，石油行业正处于空前盛况。沙特石油产业蓬勃发展，吸引亚洲企业前往沙特，而沙特投资者也在中印市场寻找机会。与此同时，许多美国公司仍然对沙特国内的恐怖主义威胁心存忧虑，不愿扩大在沙特的业务。上周，恐怖分子袭击阿巴奇克(Abqaiq)石油设施未遂，突显这一威胁。
在沙特与中国迄今达成的重大协议中，包括沙特阿拉伯国家石油公司(Saudi Aramco)在2005年与埃克森美孚(ExxonMobil)和中石化(SinoPec)签署的合资协议，在中国福建省兴建一处乙烯及炼油设施。此外，中石化还与沙特阿拉伯国家石油公司合作，在沙特境内运营一个生产非伴生天然气及油气冷凝物的项目。
