Failed States, by Noam Chomsky: on Foreign Policy

China gets oil from Iran in exchange for weapons

Still more uncomfortable for Washington is the fact that "the Sino-Saudi relationship has developed dramatically," including Chinese military aid to Saudi Arabia and gas exploration rights for China. By 2005, Saudi Arabia provided about 17% of China's oil imports. Chinese and Saudi companies have signed deals for drilling and construction of a huge refinery (with Exxon Mobil as a partner).

Iran could "emerge, over the next decade or so, as the linchpin of what China and Russia regard as an indispensable Asian Energy Security Grid, for breaking Western control of the world's energy supplies and securing the great industrial revolution of Asia." South Korea and Southeast Asian countries are likely to join, possibly Japan as well.