The Saudis like many other developing world countries now view the US as a setting power. The younger generation of Saudis travel and do business in China, they see the difference between cities like Shenzen, Shanghai or Beijing and western cities like London, Paris or NYC which are in social and physical decline. China has become their main trading partner, by far, and the gap will widen as China fills new niches like autos or passenger jets. As well, there is a long history of trade between east and west Asia that goes back to the Middle Ages, which is being revived. Saudi Arabia has made the teaching of Mandarin mandatory in their school system.
Going forward, China is the world's largest importer of oil, and the largest exporter of manufactured goods by a wide margin.
China will first come into the Middle East through trade, investments and currency moves. Down the road, you might see more direct military involvement of China (and Russia) in the region, starting with weapon purchases. The transition won't be instantaneous, but it will take place this decade. At some point down the road, China will start asserting itself on the global monetary scene by pegging its currency to gold and revealing the extent of its gold reserves, which might be greater than 30,000T, 5 to 10 times larger than US gold reserves, which are claimed to be around 8,000T but have never been audited.
Only if they carry over their oil from Arabia by rickshaw... the cost of shipping oil via tankers from the Persian Gulf to Hong Kong is around $4/barrel, you're off by a factor of 10 here.
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