Saudi Arabia–Taiwan relations
bilateral relations between Taiwan and Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia and the Republic of China (Taiwan) have had a long relationship with diplomatic, military, and commercial elements. Relations formally existed until 1990 after which Saudi Arabia recognized the People's Republic of China (PRC).
Diplomatic relations
After World War II, the Republic of China maintained diplomatic relations with only a few Middle Eastern countries, one of which was Saudi Arabia. The Republic of China lost control of the mainland and decamped to the island of Taiwan, formerly a Qing region that was then under colonial rule by the Empire of Japan until 1945 when it was acquired by the ROC.
The Hui Muslim General Ma Bufang was appointed as the first Republic of China ambassador to Saudi Arabia. This was for two reasons. The first reason was largely out of economic necessity, as Saudi Arabia was the largest supplier of oil to the ROC, with Taiwan's state-run Chinese Petroleum Company, importing about 40% of its oil annually from Saudi Arabia.
As Nationalist China was so reliant on Saudi Arabia's oil supplies, the ROC put a significant amount of effort into maintaining relations. The second reason for the friendliness of the Chinese Nationalist government towards Saudi Arabia was because since 1949, Saudi Arabia was one of the most influential countries to recognize the Chinese Nationalist regime on Taiwan, even after it lost its seat on the UN Security Council in 1971. Citing respect for Islamic religion was another. Saudi Arabia was the only Arab country which voted against the PRC taking over the ROC's seat at the UN. Both countries were in the anti-communist camp.
The public source identifies “Saudi Arabia–Taiwan relations” as bilateral relations between Taiwan and Saudi Arabia. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Saudi, Arabia and Taiwan.
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This entry incorporates text from “Saudi Arabia–Taiwan relations” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.