Beyond Petrodollars: Forging The Saudi-China Century – by Hichem Karoui

As old assumptions about global power fade, new partnerships are emerging to shape the international order. Among the most significant is the evolving relationship between Saudi Arabia and China.

In Beyond Petrodollars: Forging The Saudi-China Century, Hichem Karoui offers a comprehensive study of the forces driving this transformation and the implications it holds for the future of global politics. The book demonstrates how a relationship once centred on energy trade has expanded into a strategic partnership encompassing infrastructure, technology, finance, diplomacy, and security.

Through historical analysis and geopolitical insight, Karoui examines the milestones that brought Riyadh and Beijing closer together and the regional and international dynamics accelerating that process. He explores the decline of traditional geopolitical certainties, the rise of multipolarity, the search for strategic autonomy, and the growing importance of economic statecraft.

The work analyses key developments such as China’s expanding role in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification strategy, the Belt and Road Initiative, technological cooperation, supply-chain security, and changing patterns of international influence. It also assesses the opportunities and challenges facing both countries as they seek to balance national interests within a rapidly evolving world system.

Rich in analysis yet accessible to general readers, Beyond Petrodollars speaks to scholars, policymakers, business professionals, journalists, and anyone seeking to understand the geopolitical transformations of the twenty-first century.

This is not simply the story of two countries. It is the story of a changing world.