China’s ailing clean energy industry turns to Saudi

Development agenda: The Saudi Arabia pavilion at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Investment from China could help the kingdom become a big player in the clean power sector that many hope will one day replace fossil fuels. — Reuters

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has for years invested in China’s fossil fuels industry, cementing ties with one of the biggest customers for its massive oil exports.

Now Beijing is repaying in kind. China’s clean energy firms are looking to the Middle Eastern kingdom to globalise their manufacturing bases as firms come under unprecedented margin pressure at home and trade tensions worsen with the United States and its allies.