Late last month, Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman (MBS) visited Pakistan, India and China. Given the poor state of Saudi-U.S. relations, it is tempting to see this trip as a response to criticism in the United States of the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The underlying story of this trip is not about the United States and Saudi Arabia. It is about the ongoing structural shift in geopolitics, as the global economic center of gravity moves east and Asia and the Middle East draw closer together.