Saudi investment in Pakistan stokes tensions with China

Riyadh's billion dollar refinery projects in Gwadar seen irking Beijing

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China has poured huge amounts of money into developing the port of Gwadar, a key hub in its China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, but Pakistan has now opened the door for Saudi investment in an oil refinery in the area, stoking tensions. © AP

ADNAN AAMIR, Contributing writer

QUETTA, Pakistan -- Saudi Arabia's multibillion-dollar investment in Gwadar at the southernmost tip of Pakistan is complicating Islamabad's delicate relations with Beijing.

China is wary of the increasing Saudi presence in their strategically important neighbor as Riyadh prepares to sign an agreement to build Pakistan's largest oil refinery when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visits Islamabad next month.

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