ABSTRACT
China’s foreign policy towards the Arab world is dealt with in three separate, distinct, but complementary phases. After the stalemate in Korea, and once China’s borders were secure in that area, attention was diverted to Indo-China, where France was facing insurmountable difficulties, particularly in Vietnam. The Bandung Conference in 1955 opened a new phase in China’s diplomatic thrust in the Arab world. Trade relations between the USSR and Saudi Arabia had started in 1927 when two Soviet trade delegations visited Saudi Arabia (the USSR was the first foreign power to recognise the rule of Ibn Sa’ud), but no substantial gains were achieved because of British influence. The 1960–70 period of the Cultural Revolution had an important impact on China’s foreign policies in the Arab world. Until 1971, however, China’s foreign policy priorities revolved around the support for national liberation movements based on the principles of armed struggle, at the expense of China’s existing diplomatic relations with foreign countries.
