Xi Jinping’s Saudi go to to bolster ties begins immediately amid tensions with US

Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to make a 3 day-official go to to Saudi Arabia beginning Wednesday to attend the China-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) assembly.

Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend China-Gulf Cooperation Council assembly in Saudi Arabia (File Photo)

By Press Trust of India: Chinese President Xi Jinping will make a 3 day-official go to to Saudi Arabia beginning Wednesday throughout which he’ll attend the China-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) assembly.

While there is no such thing as a official announcement about his go to, Saudi state media reported on Tuesday that President Xi will arrive within the Gulf Kingdom on Wednesday for a three-day go to to the world’s largest oil producer.

The go to will embody a bilateral summit chaired by Saudi King Salman and attended by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the dominion’s de facto ruler, in keeping with the Saudi state media stories.

Xi may even attend a summit with rulers from the six-member GCC and talks convening leaders from elsewhere within the Middle East, the report mentioned.

The GCC is a regional, intergovernmental, political, and financial union comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

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Xi’s arrival coincides with heightened tensions between Saudi Arabia and the US over points starting from vitality coverage to regional safety and human rights.

His go to additionally comes within the backdrop of assertions by US President Joe Biden that Washington is not going to cede the Middle East to Beijing.

“We is not going to stroll away and go away a vacuum to be crammed by China, Russia, or Iran… the US shouldn’t be going anyplace,” Biden informed the assembled Arab leaders when he visited Riyadh in July.

The US and Saudi Arabia are nonetheless embroiled in a heated spat over oil manufacturing. In October, OPEC+ slashed output by two million barrels per day in an effort to “stabilise” costs. The determination was taken regardless of heavy US campaigning in opposition to it.

The Chinese president’s go to, which comes as he faces mounting strain at dwelling over opposition to his “zero covid” technique, underscores China’s need to spice up hyperlinks in a area that’s historically seen by Washington as falling below its sphere of affect, the Financial Times reported.

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Gulf officers clarify, nonetheless, their wariness of getting too caught up in any China-US disputes, within the data that they’ve to take care of relations with the pair.

China is Saudi Arabia’s largest buyer for crude oil, buying roughly 1 / 4 of Saudi oil exports.

Beyond vitality, analysts say leaders from the 2 international locations are anticipated to debate potential offers that might see Chinese companies change into extra deeply concerned in mega-projects which are central to Prince Mohammed’s imaginative and prescient of diversifying the Saudi economic system away from oil, the Voice of America reported.

Those tasks embody a futuristic 500 billion greenback megacity often known as NEOM, a so-called cognitive metropolis that may rely closely on facial recognition and surveillance know-how.

Xi final visited Saudi Arabia in 2016, the yr earlier than Prince Mohammed turned first in line to the throne, on a visit that additionally featured stops in Egypt and Saudi rival Iran.

Prince Mohammed visited China and met Xi on an Asia tour in 2019.

Published On:

Dec 7, 2022