Sept. 24, 2005: Saudi woos China, India

The Long Version -- followed by The Short Version

Saudi Arabia Woos China and India, Middle East Quarterly.
www.meforum.org/article/1019

Harsh V. Pant is a lecturer in the defense studies department at King's College, London.

[....] Reflective of the growing breadth of Sino-Saudi relations, Abdullah used his visit not only to sign a pact on energy cooperation and joint investment in oil, natural gas, and mineral deposits but also to conclude broader economic, trade, taxation, and technical accords, a vocational training agreement, and to finalize a Saudi Arabian Development Bank urban development loan for the historic Muslim Chinese city of Aksu in the western province of Xinjiang.[3]

[....] The Ahle-Hadith (People of the Tradition of the Prophet), a Sunni Islamic sect with ties to the Saudi state dating back to the 1920s, has arguably been the biggest beneficiary of Saudi monetary assistance contributing to internecine rivalries among various Indian Muslim sects.[51] Several Indian madrasas that follow the Ahle-Hadith tradition have begun to emphasize their closeness with the Saudi Salafis. While the early Ahle-Hadith was in many ways progressive, it has now altered into an intolerant, literalist strand.

Several Indian Islamic jurists and scholars seem to have gravitated towards this Saudi-sanctioned, radical interpretation of Islam and to a conspiratorial version of global politics. Instructive in this context is a claim made by a Muslim jurist from the Deoband sect in India that "should it be proved that Osama was the mastermind behind the attacks of September 11, he would not be punished under Islamic law since his actions were the result of an independent, legal opinion issued by top jurists."[52] Another Islamic scholar from a prominent seminary in north India has argued that "a worldwide anti-Muslim alliance has been formed and is headed by the U.S. It runs in an arc from Hindu fundamentalist India, through China and Russia, and ends with Europe and the U.S. in the west. The effect is to encircle and choke the Islamic world."[53] [....]

Extensively documented -- a must read

In the footnotes, there are several articles worth checking also.



The Short Version

''Saudi Arabia Looks East: Woos China and India'', Report Drafted By: Dr. Harsh V. Pant, Feb. 22, 06, PINR

www.pinr.com/report.php?ac=view_report
&report_id=445&language_id=1

The Power and Interest News Report (PINR) is an independent organization that utilizes open source intelligence to provide conflict analysis services in the context of international relations. PINR approaches a subject based upon the powers and interests involved, leaving the moral judgments to the reader.

In January 2006, Saudi Arabia's monarch, Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud, undertook a tour of Asia that brought him to China, India, Malaysia and Pakistan. It was a strategically significant trip and one that may have some important long-term implications. [....]

Saudi Arabia reacted angrily to a multi-trillion dollar lawsuit against Saudi Islamic organizations and three top Saudi royals filed by the relatives of the September 11 attack victims [....]

Saudi Arabia's Aramco Overseas Company has provided US$750 million of the total US$3 billion in investment to construct a petrochemical complex in southeastern Fujian province in China that will process eight million tons of Saudi crude oil. Several members of O.P.E.C., including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, intend to build a new refinery in Guangzhou, the capital of China's Guangdong province, involving a total investment of US$8 billion. [....]

China-Middle East Energy Relations - China Institute - University ... Dubai Bourse Woos China On Sour Crude Futures (Sep 11 2006) ... BEIJING - China and Saudi Arabia have signed a protocol to work together in petroleum, ...