This article only represents the author's own views.

Hong Kong is a favorite destination for Saudi princes, who have traditionally descended on the Asian city as a relatively safe financial haven for opening family trusts. But a major new tie-up between Hong Kong-listed PC giant Lenovo Group Ltd. (0992.HK) and a unit of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund breaks that mold, and instead looks more like a joining-of-giants with their own bigger agendas.

Foreign investors have been scaling back or leaving China outright these last few years as tensions mount between Beijing and Washington. Data from the Institute of International Finance shows foreigners withdrew a total of $82.2 billion from Chinese equity markets in 2023 alone. But that Western flight has been partly offset by rising inflows of Middle Eastern money, bringing with it some new life and vitality for China’s financial markets and companies.