The summit with Saudi Arabia, chaired by King Salman and attended by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), the kingdom’s de facto ruler, comes after Xi was confirmed for an unprecedented third term as president in October.
Xi to attend China-Arab summit, China-GCC summit, visit Saudi Arabia
BEIJING, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the first China-Arab States Summit and the China-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and pay a state visit to Saudi Arabia from Dec. 7 to 10 at the invitation of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying made the announcement here on Wednesday. ■
Agreements worth $29 billion to be signed during China’s Xi visit to Saudi Arabia
"More than 20 initial agreements worth SAR 110 billion ($29.26 billion) will be signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Saudi Arabia this week, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Tuesday.
The Chinese president will embark on an official visit to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday at the invitation of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz.
Xi’s visit to the Kingdom will run until December 9 during which a Saudi-Chinese summit headed by King Salman and the Chinese president, with the participation of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, will be held.
In addition to the deals, China and Saudi Arabia will sign a strategic partnership agreement and a plan to harmonize the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 with China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
The summit will also witness launching Prince Mohammed bin Salman Award for Cultural Cooperation between Saudi Arabia and China."
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Initial agreements worth $29bn will be signed during a Saudi Arabian-Chinese summit this week, according to the kingdom’s official news agency
"Chinese President Xi Jinping will make a three-day visit to Saudi Arabia this week, meeting the king and de facto ruler of the world’s biggest oil exporter.
The Chinese leader will arrive on Wednesday for only his third trip abroad since the coronavirus pandemic began and his first to Saudi Arabia since 2016.
The visit followed an invitation from Saudi Arabia’s King Salman “to bolster historic ties and strategic partnership between the two countries”, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said on Tuesday.
Initial agreements worth $29.26bn will be signed during the bilateral summit, SPA said.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the visit in a brief statement on Wednesday morning. Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said Xi would make a state visit to Saudi Arabia and attend the first China-Arab States Summit and the China-GCC Summit in Riyadh.
The visit comes as China looks to deepen its relationships with countries in the Middle East amid growing strains in its ties with the United States and other Western nations.
In an editorial, China’s Global Times, a state-run tabloid, described the China-Arab States summit as “a milestone in the history of China-Arab countries relations”. The paper said that after the “severe impact” of the Arab Spring, the region had a “common desire” to avoid political turmoil and achieve stable growth and was “keenly interested in China’s experience”.
‘Deeper relations’
The summit with Saudi Arabia, chaired by King Salman and attended by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), the kingdom’s de facto ruler, comes after Xi was confirmed for an unprecedented third term as president in October.
China is Saudi Arabia’s largest trading partner and MBS is expected to give Xi a lavish welcome when he lands in Riyadh on Wednesday, a marked contrast to the muted reception given to US President Joe Biden in July.
The visit reflects “much deeper relations developed in recent years” between the two countries, said Ali Shihabi, a Saudi Arabian analyst close to the government.
“As the largest importer of Saudi oil, China is a critically important partner and military relations have been developing strongly,” he said, adding that he expected “a number of agreements to be signed”.
MBS was in Beijing in 2019 when he held talks that focussed on energy deals and regional economic agreements aligned with Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, Xi’s globe-spanning infrastructure project.
The trip also coincides with heightened tensions between Saudi Arabia and the US over issues ranging from energy policy to regional security and human rights.
The latest blow to that decades-old partnership came in October when the OPEC+ oil bloc agreed to cut production by two million barrels a day, a move the White House said amounted to “aligning with Russia” on the war in Ukraine.
On Sunday, OPEC+ decided to keep those cuts in place.
Shihabi said the timing was “a coincidence and not directed at the US”.
In from the cold
China sees Saudi Arabia as its key ally in the Middle East due not only to its importance as an oil supplier but also a shared suspicion of Western countries, especially on issues such as human rights.
Saudi Arabia has remained silent on the situation in China’s far western region of Xinjiang, where the United Nations has said the detention of Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities may amount to “crimes against humanity“.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in October that Saudi Arabia was a “priority” in China’s overall and regional diplomatic strategy.
China buys roughly a quarter of Saudi Arabian oil exports.
The oil market was thrown into turmoil with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
The G7 and European Union on Friday agreed on a $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian oil in an attempt to deny the Kremlin revenues to keep up the war, stoking further uncertainty.
“Oil will probably be higher up the agenda than it was when Biden visited,” said Torbjorn Soltvedt of the risk intelligence firm Verisk Maplecroft.
“These are the two most important players in the oil market – Saudi on the supply side and then China on the demand side.”
Beyond energy, analysts have said leaders from the two countries are expected to discuss potential deals that could see Chinese firms become more deeply involved in mega-projects that are central to the crown prince’s vision of diversifying Saudi Arabia’s economy away from oil.
Those projects include a futuristic $500bn megacity known as NEOM, a so-called “cognitive” city that will depend heavily on facial recognition and surveillance technology."
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The visit reflects “much deeper relations developed in recent years” between the two countries, said Ali Shihabi, a Saudi Arabian analyst close to the government.
“As the largest importer of Saudi oil, China is a critically important partner and military relations have been developing strongly,” he said, adding that he expected “a number of agreements to be signed”.
MBS was in Beijing in 2019 when he held talks that focussed on energy deals and regional economic agreements aligned with Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, Xi’s globe-spanning infrastructure project.
The trip also coincides with heightened tensions between Saudi Arabia and the US over issues ranging from energy policy to regional security and human rights.
The latest blow to that decades-old partnership came in October when the OPEC+ oil bloc agreed to cut production by two million barrels a day, a move the White House said amounted to “aligning with Russia” on the war in Ukraine.
On Sunday, OPEC+ decided to keep those cuts in place.
Shihabi said the timing was “a coincidence and not directed at the US”.
In from the coldChina sees Saudi Arabia as its key ally in the Middle East due not only to its importance as an oil supplier but also a shared suspicion of Western countries, especially on issues such as human rights.
Saudi Arabia has remained silent on the situation in China’s far western region of Xinjiang, where the United Nations has said the detention of Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities may amount to “crimes against humanity“.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in October that Saudi Arabia was a “priority” in China’s overall and regional diplomatic strategy.
China buys roughly a quarter of Saudi Arabian oil exports.
The oil market was thrown into turmoil with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
The G7 and European Union on Friday agreed on a $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian oil in an attempt to deny the Kremlin revenues to keep up the war, stoking further uncertainty.
“Oil will probably be higher up the agenda than it was when Biden visited,” said Torbjorn Soltvedt of the risk intelligence firm Verisk Maplecroft.
“These are the two most important players in the oil market – Saudi on the supply side and then China on the demand side.”
Beyond energy, analysts have said leaders from the two countries are expected to discuss potential deals that could see Chinese firms become more deeply involved in mega-projects that are central to the crown prince’s vision of diversifying Saudi Arabia’s economy away from oil.
Those projects include a futuristic $500bn megacity known as NEOM, a so-called “cognitive” city that will depend heavily on facial recognition and surveillance technology.
The first China-Arab summit is a strategic choice for both sides
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The first China-Arab summit is a strategic choice for both sides
"The first China-Arab summit, to be held in Saudi Arabia on Friday, is a strategic choice made by both sides. The summit conforms to the trend of the development of the times and will become an epoch-making milestone in the history of China-Arab relations. The summit will lead to the building of a China-Arab community with a shared future in the new era. The strategic mutual trust between the two sides will continue to deepen, while their mutual benefits and win-win results will promote prosperity and development. The China-Arab friendly cooperation is set to enter a new stage.
China and the Arab world are natural cooperative partners who support each other, having been through thick and thin together. The traditional China-Arab friendship has laid a solid foundation for China-Arab strategic partnership in the new era.
Since modern times, China and the Arab countries, both developing countries, have supported each other in the struggle against imperialism and colonialism, which has greatly promoted friendship between the two sides. At the Bandung Conference in 1955, China not only communicated with Arab countries that had achieved independence at that time, but also voiced its support of the just struggle of the Palestinian people. In 1971, the UN General Assembly at its 26th Session adopted Resolution 2758 with an overwhelming majority, including Arab countries, to restore all its rights to the People's Republic of China and to recognize the representatives of the government of the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate representatives of China to the UN.
China and Arab countries are stable cooperative partners that meet each other halfway and go hand in hand in accordance with the times. Against the backdrop of profound changes unseen in a century, China and Arab countries have been jointly promoting the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with stronger will to focus on development. China's construction programs, including the building of bridges, roads, hospitals, as well as trade, have brought more and more benefits to the local people in Arab world. Under the framework of the BRI, China has deeply participated in the infrastructure construction of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria and other countries.
China and Arab countries are reliable partners who treat each other equally. In their long-term interactions with the Western countries, Arab countries have become tired of the condescending arrogance of the West. Just as Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said when he met with US President Joe Biden in July - the only way we're going to work together is if we respect each other, and that includes countries respecting each other's values and sovereignty.
Through
comparison, the Arab countries have become more and more aware that
China does not interfere in others' internal affairs, nor will it rope
in one force against another. China respects the development path chosen
independently by the people of other countries, and is a reliable partner that will not impose its own values on others..."READ MORE
Xi Jinping Gets Saudi Red Carpet as Middle East Looks Past US
Xi Jinping
Photographer: Wang Zhao/AFP/Getty Images
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Two months after snubbing US President Joe Biden’s pleas for oil, Saudi Arabia is rolling out the red carpet for his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.
Xi will visit Saudi Arabia for several days starting Wednesday, during which he will take part in a regional summit with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other Arab leaders, the kingdom’s SPA state news agency said, promising agreements worth some $30 billion. Energy and infrastructure deals will top the agenda, according to two people briefed on the plans."
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