Saudi Arabia is China's third-largest source of oil, while Qatar is its second-largest source of liquefied natural gas, and third-largest source of liquefied petroleum gas.
The Qatar row has thrown a spanner in the Chinese trade expansion plan in the Middle East.
China has very high economic and diplomatic stakes in the region. Apart from Chinese companies winning massive infrastructure projects, the region is very crucial to China's ever-expanding energy needs.
The first casualty of the Gulf fracas will be the free trade agreement, which China was negotiating with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GGC), which includes Qatar. If the GGC member states are unable to resolve their differences, the China-GCC trade deal will be in jeopardy.
The two major players in the row — Saudi Arabia and Qatar are China's main trading partners.
Saudi Arabia is China's third-largest source of oil, while Qatar is its second-largest source of liquefied natural gas, and third-largest source of liquefied petroleum gas.
Total two-way trade between China and Qatar tripled between 2008 and 2013 to about $11.5 billion, according to Reuters. Last year, Qatar supplied 19 per cent of China's imports of liquefied natural gas, according to IHS Fairplay, making Qatar China's second-largest supplier of gas after Australia.
In 2015, Qatar imported $3.77 billion in goods from China, much of it consumer, machinery or electrical goods, according to the World Bank.
Statistics from the Central Intelligence Agency show China accounted for 11.9 per cent of Qatar's trade in 2015, making it Qatar's top trading partner.
As far as Saudi Arabia is concerned, the relations go beyond energy and trade.
China and Saudi Arabia signed $65 billion worth of deals during Saudi King Salman's visit to Beijing in March.
Meng Jianzhu, a special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping, visited Riyadh in November 2016 and during his meeting with King Salman a five-year plan for Saudi Arabia-China security cooperation was unveiled.
This plan includes counter-terrorism cooperation and joint military drills.
Saudi Arabia views China as a potentially important supplier of missiles and weapons technologies and signed a deal to increase nuclear cooperation in 2012.
The fallout from the decision was felt in China, which traditionally has stayed neutral in Middle East politics. Observers says Beijing would need to walk a fine line to expand its economic reach into the region.
China has never taken sides in Middle East politics. But with US President Donald Trump openly coming out in support of Saudi Arabia and other countries against Qatar (which has a major US military base) has made the situation very volatile.
The Middle East may see further chaos, even conflict, if Arab Gulf nations fail to sort out their differences.
With a huge economic interest at stake, China has been put in a very precarious position. China cannot openly express its stance or pick a side. Given the sudden paradigm shift in the Middle East politics, Chinese foreign ministry came out with a restrained response, saying " We are aware of related reports."
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