The framing of this article is off-base. It denies the Gulf Arabs agency and attributes Sino-Arab rapprochement to Chinese predation rather than to Arab efforts to diversify relationships away from a demonstrably unreliable United States. It correctly implies that arms sales are now the principal instrument of U.S. influence in the Gulf states but incorrectly posits that China is bidding to replace the U.S. as their security guarantor. Of interest, it suggests that Sino-Arab trade in goods and services other than oil may now be priced in something other than the dollar. If so, that's a big step in the direction of future non-dollar pricing of energy. There can be no doubt that Xi's visit to Riyadh is intended by both the Chinese and (multiple) Arab sides to mark a major intensification of relations or that we will see that as a diminution in our (now largely imagined rather than real) influence on Arab regimes.
The Financial Times, December 4, 2022