Saudi Arabia’s new mutual defence pact with nuclear-armed Pakistan underscores deepening doubts over Washington’s security commitments in the region amid its strategic rivalry with Beijing, according to observers.
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They said China was likely to view such diversified partnerships positively, which could also open new opportunities to expand arms sales, although the security dynamics in the region might become further complicated.
The mutual defence pact signed late on Wednesday significantly strengthens a decades-old security partnership between Riyadh and Islamabad at a time when Gulf Arab states are growing increasingly wary about the reliability of the United States as their long-standing security guarantor.
It was signed only a week after Israeli strikes on Qatar targeting Hamas killed six people in the capital Doha. The attack infuriated Arab countries, further heightened concerns and upended the diplomatic calculus in the region.
Sun Degang, director of the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, said the attack made Saudi Arabia feel that US protection was unreliable, leading it to seek strategic autonomy and strengthen cooperation with Pakistan.
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He said that by signing the pact, Saudi Arabia was looking to “put its eggs in different baskets” and secure protection from Pakistan since it had previously primarily relied on the US for this.