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The Chinese president was received this Thursday, December 8, by Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman in Riyadh on his first visit to the Arab kingdom since 2016, in which he announced the start of what he called a “new era” in binational relations, something that Washington closely watches with suspicion.
The president of China, Xi Jinping, wants to consolidate Beijing as the main trading partner of the Persian Gulf in the face of the distancing of the United States, which sees how its political rival is gaining influence in the Middle East, especially in energy infrastructure projects.
Xi’s visit comes at a time when ties between the United States and Saudi Arabia are at an all time low and uncertainty weighs on global energy markets, with the West imposing a price cap on Russian oil.
The meeting also gains importance insofar as China is the world’s largest consumer of ‘commodities’ and Saudi Arabia is the number one oil exporter.
Saudi Arabia, the largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has an economy that depends almost entirely on crude oil, despite authorities in recent years approving plans to diversify the kingdom’s sources of income. .
Both countries had a binational trade in 2021 of 80,000 million dollars, making China the main trading partner of the Saudis, from whom it buys 20% of the crude it consumes.
Xi Jinping plans to meet with other Gulf oil producers, saying the Gulf states are a “treasury of energy for the world economy and fertile ground for the development of high-tech industries.”
Why the restless visit to the White House?
The meeting between the world’s No. 2 economic power and the Gulf energy giant comes as Saudi ties with Washington are strained by US criticism of Riyadh’s human rights record and Saudi support for cutting oil production. before the midterm elections in November.
The White House said Xi’s visit was an example of Chinese attempts to exert influence and that it would not change US policy towards the Middle East.
“We are aware of the influence that China is trying to grow around the world,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
The United States, in turn, is concerned about China’s growing involvement in sensitive infrastructure in the Gulf.
with Reuters
