A marriage made in heaven

Here is a trick question: what is common between Islam and communism? As the meeting between the Saudi King Abdullah and the Chinese President Hu Jintao proved - contracts. Yes, you heard me (or rather read me) right. Following the visit of the Chinese president to Saudi Arabia, a range of contracts have been signed between the two countries, covering a range of sectors, including oil, mining and others. The Chinese have even agreed to set up a chapter of the King Abdul Aziz Public Library in Beijing. While the interest of the Chinese in Saudi oil does not take a rocket scientist to figure out, the establishment of an islamic library in a country which officially still embraces communism may raise a few eyebrows. Please include mine in the list.

Naturally , this seems to be a concession on the part of the Chinese in return for those very interesting natural resource and constructions contracts they are bringing home (not to be forgotten at the times of high unemployment in Saudi). But who would have thought that the Chinese would be willing to compromise on this kind of opening to outside forces, particularly as they struggle with some of their own Islamist movements in the area bordering the former Soviet Union's republics? Given today's exchanges of promises, the Saudi's don't seem to be concerned with working with countries whose political ideology explicitly denies the existence of religion. Likewise, Islam, while seen as a menace at home, is not seen by the Chinese as a threat, as long as it stays in the Gulf where they will just temporarily export some of their labour force.