At a time when Washington’s relations with Riyadh appear to be deteriorating, Saudi Arabia and China have reaffirmed their collaboration on the global oil market and the principle of non-interference in domestic affairs during a visit aimed at strengthening strategic ties.
Since the official state visit began on Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Saudi King Salman have inked a number of key agreements, including one involving the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.
The two parties claimed they “exchanged ideas regarding how to reinforce and deepen comprehensive strategic partnership relations between the Kingdom and China” in a joint statement on Friday.
It reaffirmed the significance of a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine issue while highlighting the concepts of sovereignty and “non-interference”.
In a nod to Gulf security concerns over Iran, another oil supplier to China and with whom Beijing has good ties, they agreed on the need to “strengthen joint cooperation to ensure the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear programme”, and for Tehran to respect “principles of good-neighbourliness”.
The Chinese leader said his visit, during which he will meet other Gulf oil producers and attend a wider summit with Arab League countries on Friday, heralded a “new era” in relations.
“China looks forward to working with Saudi Arabia and Arab states to turn the two summits into milestone events in the history of China-Arab relations and China-GCC relations, and bring these relations to new heights,” the foreign ministry cited Xi as saying.
Qatar’s emir, Kuwait’s crown prince, and the presidents of Egypt, Tunisia, Djibouti, Somalia and Mauritania are among rulers attending, alongside leaders and prime ministers of Iraq, Morocco, Algeria, Sudan and Lebanon.
