The eyes of the world are on this summit… China lands in Saudi Arabia
Chinese President Xi Jinping met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as part of his official visit to Saudi Arabia, which was followed with interest around the world. Prince Salman welcomed the Chinese leader with a ceremony.
At a time when the US was focused on Asia Pacific, it was striking that China, seeking to increase its influence in the Middle East, landed in Saudi Arabia. Within the framework of the visit, Saudi Arabia and Chinese companies signed 34 investment agreements in various fields.
Xi, who traveled to Riyadh at the invitation of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz, will attend the China-Arab Countries Summit. Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Tunisia, Yemen, Mauritania and Sudan are among the countries that will participate in the summit at the leadership level.
In his remarks at the airport yesterday, Xi said he wanted to take relations between China and the Arab and Gulf countries to a new level.
A NEW ERA IN THE CHINA-USA COMPETITION.
Growing competition between the world’s two largest economies, the US and China, makes the Middle East region, home to most of the world’s energy resources, the arena of a new struggle for influence. At a time when Washington describes China as the “most important long-term threat” and shifts its weight to the Asia-Pacific region in its global strategy, the Beijing administration seeks to increase its influence in the Middle East, where the US The US has been the player shaping regional developments for many years.
Relations between Washington and Riyadh, already strained by the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and Saudi Arabia’s human rights record, have been strained again by the debate over oil production cuts following the Ukraine-Russia war.
Although US President Joe Biden’s visit to Riyadh earlier this year failed to provide the expected positive atmosphere in relations, the two countries came into conflict due to the decision of the “OPEC+” countries led by Saudi Saudi and Russia to cut oil production on November 5.
WILL CHINA FILL THE GAP?
Whether China is a candidate to fill the economic and political power vacuum created by the US shift of focus away from the Middle East and the outspoken resistance of regional players to Washington’s policies is debated. Beijing, which has carried out more than 200 energy and infrastructure projects in the region within the reach of the Belt and Road in recent years, has increased its interest in the region’s resources.
China, which meets 70 percent of its energy needs through imports, is the largest buyer of Middle East oil. Last year, China alone bought 27 percent of the crude exported by Saudi Arabia, the region’s biggest oil producer. China and Saudi Arabia are also negotiating trade oil payments in yuan. The implementation of this could undermine the role of the US dollar as the main currency used in energy deals.
Chinese President Xi visited Riyadh in 2016 and met with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in Beijing in 2019. (SOZCU.COM.TR/AA)