Recently, the United States has been courting Saudi Arabia to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, and to this end, it has also sent the country a "commitment" on nuclear energy technology transfer and security protection. The main goal of the United States in treating Saudi Arabia so favorably is to find an Arab ally for Israel in the context of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, so as to break up the anti-Israeli alliance in the Middle East. However, Saudi Arabia and the United States did not sign the relevant agreement, but turned to China for military cooperation. According to the "Reference News" report, Saudi Defense Minister Khalid recently visited China and talked with the Chinese side about the friendly cooperation between the two militaries.
It is worth mentioning that China's National Defense University recently held a relevant study class, and the students were military officers from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other Arab countries. Therefore, Khalid's visit to China at this time is of great significance to strengthening military cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia, as well as between China and the Arab world in the Middle East. In fact, this already means that the security concept of the Arab countries in the Middle East has changed, and the United States is no longer their only option, at least in the field of security.
For the United States, this should be an unacceptable outcome. Saudi Arabia is one of the most important allies of the United States in the Middle East, and the reason why the United States has made this country a key target is because it is the most moderate and influential of the Arab countries in the country. What's more, Saudi Arabia has long been perceived to be heavily dependent on U.S. protection commitments, making it unlikely to "betray" the U.S.
Therefore, the United States is trying to use Saudi Arabia as a breakthrough point to get out of the Middle East predicament, promote the establishment of diplomatic relations with Israel, and use this as a framework to attract the participation of other Arab countries and seek to establish a new alliance dominated by the United States in the Middle East. Of course, this move by the United States is not as simple as reducing the pressure on Israel. More importantly, the United States wants to redraw allies like Saudi Arabia to its side, isolating Iran and countering China's growing influence in the region.
Of course, China is not the United States, and it will not make Arab countries dependent on China for security by selling weapons or stationing troops in the Middle East, but will provide security guarantees for countries in a more popular way. Last year, China facilitated the establishment of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, prompting Arab countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt to resume diplomatic relations with Iran. As a result, the end of the civil war in Yemen, the ceasefire agreement between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, and Syria's rejoining of the Arab League have had significant political effects.
As soon as China made a move, all opposing parties in the Middle East gave up their prejudices and shook hands, which was tantamount to ruining the bloc confrontation situation established by the United States in the Middle East. Therefore, for Saudi Arabia and other countries, now that the tension of the confrontation between the Middle East bloc is a thing of the past, there is no need to rely on any country to provide security guarantees. In other words, if China makes such a move, there will be nothing to do with the United States in the Middle East. After all, when the Middle East countries no longer need security, the United States has little else to attract.
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is still ongoing, and as more and more Middle Eastern countries move closer to China, the United States obviously cannot sit still, because if it continues to make trouble like this, it is estimated that it will soon have "no friends" in the Middle East. Therefore, in order to save this unfavorable situation, according to Shangguan News, US Secretary of State Blinken recently warned the Israeli defense minister and asked them not to start a war against Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently publicly complained about the lack of US military aid and accused the Biden administration of "recently withholding weapons and ammunition provided to Israel."
Obviously, the Arab countries in the Middle East have stepped up military cooperation with China one after another, which makes the United States feel like it is sitting on pins and needles. At this time, the Biden administration warned the Israeli army to "not let the situation escalate", and even withheld weapons and ammunition provided to Israel at a paid price. This move by the United States should be a "death order" to Israel, demanding that it stop its military operations in Gaza, let alone use it against Lebanon.
Obviously, the United States cannot afford the cost of the spillover from the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, still less can it accept the result of "betrayal and separation" in the Middle East. Therefore, in order to prevent its dominant position in the Middle East from being replaced by China, the United States can only ease tensions with Arab countries and rebuild its influence in the Middle East by forcing it to negotiate with Hamas at the expense of Israel's interests.