China–Saudi Arabia relations
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China–Saudi Arabia relations (Chinese: 中沙关系, Arabic: العلاقات السعودية الصينية) refers to the current and historical bilateral relationship between the People's Republic of China and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The first Sino-Saudi official meeting took place in Oman in November 1985, following several years of heightened contact between the two countries. The two governments established official diplomatic relations in July 1990. Prior to the 1990s, bilateral relations between Saudi Arabia and the People's Republic of China (PRC) did not exist. In 1975, Saudi Arabia refused to recognize the PRC as a country, despite the PRC's desire to establish relations and acceptance of Saudi Arabian policies. At present, it is said that "oil is the backbone of the relationship." China and Saudi Arabia are strategic allies.
Zheng He's Treasure voyages sent some men to Mecca and Medina.
As of 1989, Saudi Arabia was the only Arab country that still had not established Diplomatic ties with the People's Republic of China (although Saudi Arabia did maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan). After the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 occurred in Beijing in June of that year, Saudi Arabian government relations with the PRC were upgraded. Despite the event, Saudi Arabia did not provide any criticism of the event. In fact, in August 1989, the Saudi Arabian Foreign Ministry official presented his credentials to the PRC's foreign minister. Less than a year later in July 1990, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States paid a visit to Beijing with an agreement to establish diplomatic relations. A few days later, diplomatic relations were established in Riyadh. At this point, Saudi Arabia ended over forty years of diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
After World War II, the Republic of China (Taiwan) maintained diplomatic relations with only a few Middle Eastern countries, one of which was Saudi Arabia. The Hui Muslim General Ma Bufang was appointed as the first Republic of China ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Ma Chengxiang and Ma Bufang settled in Saudi Arabia. This was for two reasons. The first reason was largely out of "economic necessity," as Saudi Arabia was the largest supplier of oil to Taiwan, with Taiwan's state-run Chinese Petroleum Company importing about 40% of its oil annually from Saudi Arabia. Because Taiwan was so reliant on Saudi Arabia's oil supplies, Taiwan put a significant amount of effort into maintaining relations. The second reason for Taiwan's ROC government warm policy towards Saudi Arabia is because since 1949, Saudi Arabia was an influential countries that recognized ROC as only China, even after ROC lost its seat in the UN Security Council in 1971. Citing respect for Islamic religion was another. Ma Bufang and his son Ma Jiyuan established a Chinese Hui Muslim community in Saudi Arabia's Hejaz region.
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