Chinese leader Xi Jinping traveled to the Middle East to meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the country’s capital of Riyadh on Wednesday.
The two discussed “views regarding ways to reinforce and develop comprehensive strategic partnership relations between the Kingdom and China,” according to a joint statement issued by both countries.
According to Politico, Xi is expected to stay till Friday, mingling with Middle Eastern leaders at the first ever Arab-China Summit for Cooperation and Development as well as the Gulf-China Summit for Cooperation and Development.
The statement affirmed that Beijing and Riyadh will “continue to firmly support each other’s core interests, support each other in maintaining their sovereignty and territorial integrity, and exert joint efforts to defend the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of states, rules of international law and basic principles of international relations,” per CNN.
China is the largest importer of crude oil, and Saudi Arabia is the largest exporter of such resources and chairs OPEC+, an alliance of oil producers, as CNBC noted.
“At a time when Saudi Arabia is seeking to advance its economic diversification plans, China is a strong partner to have and much less critical compared to other western states,” wrote Amena Bakr, chief OPEC correspondent at Energy Intelligence, on Twitter.
Foreign Policy reported that it doesn’t expect Beijing to replace Washington because of the Saudis’ need for security. But this tactic may force the U.S. to pay extra attention to Riyadh right now.
U.S.-Saudi relations are struggling. Earlier in October, when Biden administration officials pressured the country and OPEC+ nations to delay making cuts to oil production for a month, a proposal which the Saudis rejected, as Joshua Lee reported for the Deseret News.
Later in November, the Biden administration gave Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman immunity in a lawsuit against him for the alleged killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
But when Biden was on the campaign trail, he had vowed to not partner with Saudi Aradia and said that the country will “pay the price” for Khashoggi’s death, as Addison Whitmer reported for the Deseret News.