Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wants to modernize Saudi Arabia. In order to realize projects, he counts on Chinese investors. China’s leader Xi Jinping pushes his own agenda during the meeting with the prince. He sees “enormous potential” in the Arab world.
Relations with Western partners are clouded, now Saudi Arabia is forging closer ties with China: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman received the head of state of the People’s Republic in his palace with all honors. The de facto ruler of the Gulf state and Xi Jinping spoke about expanding their cooperation and further mutual investments, as reported by the state news agency SPA. An agreement on a “strategic partnership” was signed. With this, Saudi Arabia is also sending a message to the West, which Riyadh does not want to be dependent on.
Five months ago, US President Joe Biden traveled to the UK to promote an increase in oil production. Instead, the OPEC countries, led by Saudi Arabia, cut production. Saudi Arabia has traditionally been a close US ally. In addition to the dispute over oil, Biden had repeatedly sharply criticized human rights violations in the kingdom. US intelligence has accused Mohammed bin Salman of authorizing the 2018 killing of anti-government journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
The visit in the summer could not completely mend the broken relationship with Riyadh. However, Biden reaffirmed the United States’ claim to leadership in the region: The United States would “not leave a vacuum to be filled by China, Russia or Iran.” Apparently, that’s exactly what Beijing intends to do. In a newspaper article published on the occasion of his visit to Saudi Arabia, Xi Jinping wrote that he wanted to usher in “a new era for relations between China and the Arab world.” Thanks to their mineral resources, industries and construction services, the countries in the region are “countries with enormous potential.”
Relations between Riyadh and Beijing, which were once rather weak, have deepened in recent years. For Saudi Arabia, China is now an important trading partner that – unlike the West – stays out of the country’s internal affairs. Beijing, in turn, is heavily dependent on Saudi oil and pays Riyadh tens of billions of dollars a year for this. During the visit, Xi also planned to attend the first China-Arab countries summit. Egypt’s head of state, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and other high-ranking politicians from the region also traveled to the event. A meeting with King Salman was also on the agenda for China’s head of state.
Saudi Arabia’s heir to the throne wants to modernize the country and make the economy less dependent on oil. The country is also planning to build a megacity on the Red Sea. The Saudi leadership also wants to attract Chinese investors for the project. As part of the trip, companies from both countries signed deals worth billions.
The persecution of China’s Muslim Uyghur minority, hundreds of thousands of whom human rights activists say have been sent to re-education camps, was not an issue during Xi’s visit to the Sunni kingdom. Riyadh also apparently wants to stay out of its partner’s internal affairs. Despite all the harmony between the two states – Saudi Arabia still needs the USA and its security guarantees in the region against the common archenemy Iran. China cannot offer an alternative here.
