There is a close relationship between economic growth in China and energy demand, exacerbated by the absence of local resources in China to match the amount needed for its own economic growth, while energy efficiency remains a challenging issue as total Chinese energy usage is 40 quadrillion BTU per annum or approximately 6,500 BTU per dollar of GDP, below the rate and efficiency of developed economies. Due to these factors, among others, China has to turn outwards for its energy needs.

To meet its energy needs, the Middle East/Gulf region is its primary supplier of petroleum and natural gas for the foreseeable future. There are many schools of thought about China's energy links and connections with the Gulf region and the Middle East. Historically, during the ideological divide of the Cold War, Mohamed Bin Huwaidin argued that there had been perceptions of China as a power sufficiently distant from the USSR, despite being in the socialist bloc, and a possible source of support for the developing world, especially with Chinese provision of monetary and other forms of help for the developing world along with the promotion of the Chinese developmental model to developing economies.

The 1955 Bandung Conference was perceived by some as an event of SinoArab mutualism as some Arab states founded official relationships with China as the latter provided finances and other forms of non-monetary support for various Arab causes.