To many American policymakers and opinion leaders, the term “Gulf-Asia Relations” is merely an abstraction. To some, it is synonymous with China’s rising oil import dependence on the Gulf. The United States, long accustomed to being the predominant external actor in East and West Asia and preoccupied with issues specific to each region, has yet to examine systematically the salience, full scope and implications of burgeoning Gulf-Asia ties, much less to adjust its policies to them.