Shifting Saudi ties: what role could China take after Iran war is over?

The Iran conflict is pushing Saudi Arabia to reconsider its US-led security strategy, with China emerging to play a limited, but functional role, analysts say. However, deep US ties in defence would restrict Saudi Arabia’s broader cooperation with China, they added, as one expert predicted Riyadh was likely to deepen ties with regional powers such as Pakistan and Turkey. In a rare alignment, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, a key US ally in the Middle East, initiated a phone...