New Saudi alignment with China could challenge US

RIYADH, Nov 28 (Reuters) When Haytham Zamzami began studying Chinese, the rising superpower had only just begun to register on the horizon for Saudi Arabia.

Eight years later China is all the rage.

China's insatiable demand for oil -- and Saudi Arabia's position as the world's top exporter -- have become the basis for a trade partnership that analysts say could upset Riyadh's decades-old oil-for-security relationship with Washington.

''We were the pioneers, the first group,'' says Zamzami, a chemical engineer with state oil firm Saudi Aramco, which this month opened an office in the Chinese business hub of Shanghai.

''The Chinese are a proud people, with a long history and glorious civilisation behind them. Understanding them well will bring benefit to both sides,'' he said.

Saudi Arabia has become the key regional player as China quietly moves onto traditional US turf in West Aisa.

This new alignment has also seen China boosting ties with six booming Gulf Arab states, including oil producers Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

China National Offshore Oil Co (CNOOC) is in talks with Qatar for liquefied natural gas supplies, PetroChina is studying plans with Kuwait to build a refinery and petrochemical complex in South China, and Aramco is negotiating refinery joint ventures in China.

China's economic thrust has coincided with a time when US prestige in the Arab world is at a low ebb due to the Iraq war and US support for Israel.

In addition, once-cosy US-Saudi ties have not fully recovered from the shock of the September. 11 attacks in which 15 of the 19 suicide hijackers were Saudis.

This has hit the oil-for-security ''special relationship'' long based on the role of US military forces as guarantor of Saudi Arabia's safety, largely to protect huge Saudi oilfields.

TRADE AT 20 BLN dollars Bilateral trade is expected to hit billion for 2006, a 30 per cent rise on the previous year, said Li Yanlin, China's trade attache in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

''The economy is booming in both countries and Chinese production is getting cheaper and better,'' he told Reuters, adding that in the last two years Chinese firms have won some 4 billion dollar in construction contracts.

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