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When Oil Is Not Enough: Sino-Saudi Relations and Vision 2030

Abstract: This paper explores how cultural developments help us to better understand Sino-Saudi ties in the 21st century, Saudi “Vision 2030”, and China’s “One Belt and One Road Initiative” (OBOR). For much of the last decade, scholarly studies of Sino-Saudi ties have focused on the energy trade between the two states, with relatively little attention paid to other economic or cultural factors. By contrast, this article argues that Sino-Saudi ties deserve an alternative approach. While it recognizes the role of oil and energy in the bilateral relationship, it argues that the Sino-Saudi relationship in the future will be increasingly defined by economic and, remarkably, cultural ties that are not directly tied to the energy trade. A critical part of this process will be OBOR, and Vision 2030, the latter looking to non-oil industries, including arts and culture, to transform Saudi Arabia and its political and economic ties with Asia.