- China has chosen Saudi Arabia as the site for its next offering of US dollar bonds.
- It’s China’s first such offering in three years, and shows deepening financial ties between the two nations.
- Saudi Arabia is leaning on Chinese investment to bankroll large development projects.
Investing ties between Riyadh and Beijing are growing harder to ignore.
China has has chosen Saudi Arabia as the site for its first US dollar bond sales in three years, scheduled for next week, according to a Ministry of Finance statement.
Saudi Arabia has embraced Chinese investment to help bankroll its juggernaut modernization plans. The country’s so-called Vision 2030 project — an effort to turn Saudi Arabia into a greener, innovation-centered economy — recently reached $1.3 trillion in value.
Meanwhile, the kingdom’s construction plans and emphasis on renewables have offered Chinese real estate developers and tech industries a fresh playing field.
For instance, Saudi Arabia has been courting Chinese investors to fund its futuristic mega-city, Neom, the centerpiece of Vision 2030. The kingdom has had some success over recent years, and China has agreed to various tech deals related to the project.
The Saudi Public Investment Fund — the nation’s sovereign wealth vehicle — signed $50 billion worth of deals with Chinese lenders in August, according data compiled by the Financial Times.
Tech-related investments have also kept up: in one telling example, Saudi Arabia has reportedly backed a Chinese competitor to OpenAI over the summer.
At the end of October, Saudi Arabia debuted two new exchange traded funds to track markets in Hong Kong and China. These instruments will allow Saudi investors easier access to Chinese equity exposure.
However, these deepening ties have also attracted US scrutiny. Earlier this year, the US offered Saudi Arabia tech and security deals on the condition that Riyadh rejects its new tech alliance with China.
