Most of the following literature provides an assessment that Calabrese (1991) serves a brief discussion on Sino-Saudi trade and the early development of diplomatic relations, and merely offers a few sentences regarding the Chinese response to Saudi regional policy[3] . He stresses the way in which China granted its support to the Saudi peace initiatives over the Arab-Israeli conflict. Chinese officials complimented the Saudi effort to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. Premier Zhao praised the Saudi initiative of the Fez Plan. In a speech to the UN General Assembly on October 4, 1982, Chinese Foreign Minister Huang Hua also complimented the Saudi plan (Fez plan). On the issue of Yemeni political instability, Calabrese argues that China relied on Saudi and American military protection in North Yemen.

Yetiv et al. ( 2007) argues that China and Saudi Arabia, realizing that there was a commonality of interest in limiting the Soviet influence, began to cultivate a relationship[4] . One of the indicators that reflected the relations between the two countries was Chinese exports to the Kingdom, which amounted to approximately USD 25 million by 1977. Harris’ work is also concerned with some of the factors that prevented the establishment of Sino-Saudi diplomatic relations. Among these factors were Islamic conservatism, a strong Riyadh Taipei relationship and the exports of Chinese military arms to Iran.

Harris outlines the unremitting efforts of China to develop diplomatic links with the Kingdom. China used various channels, which included the seeking of ‘American good office softening up the Saudis’ (Harris 1993 p. 223). In the1980s, a number of unofficial contacts took place between the religious delegations and the high-level officials of the two countries and Sino-Saudi economic cooperation was also facilitated. The investment was promoted in the middle of the decade and the selling of Chinese East Wind missiles (CSS-2 or DF-3A) occurred at the end of the decade. Harris also analyzes the steps that occurred in the establishment of diplomatic relations and the implications of the Sino Saudi diplomatic link for Taiwan.