Chinese leader seeks new approaches to the Arab world in Saudi Arabia

The visit of the Chinese leader to Saudi Arabia will begin on December 7. Xi will hold meetings with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. According to the Financial Times on December 5, the Chinese leader will also attend two events with the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and a China-Arab summit.

As diplomatic sources told Reuters back on November 30, the Chinese delegation could sign dozens of agreements and memorandums with the Persian Gulf and other Arab states in the field of energy, security and investment. However, they did not disclose details.

On December 1, the Chinese Foreign Ministry released a document titled “Report on Sino-Arab Cooperation in a New Era” outlining the principles of Beijing’s policy toward the region, South China Morning Post reported. Thus, the PRC promised not to pursue its geopolitical interests in the Middle East, while declaring its desire to strengthen ties with Arab countries in order to jointly promote political solutions to the problems of the region.

The Chinese authorities also recalled the Belt and Road Initiative in the Arab world (it includes more than 200 major projects for the development of energy and infrastructure), projects in agriculture, and investments in high-tech industries. The parties will also support the fight against terrorism while speaking out against Islamophobia. The upcoming Sino-Arab summit will provide an opportunity to work on climate change, cyber security, and cooperation in UN peacekeeping operations.

According to Reuters diplomatic sources, Saudi Arabia will give Xi a lavish reception, similar to that given to former US President Donald Trump during his first foreign visit in 2017. Then the king met the American leader at the airport to fanfare, and following the negotiations, the two sides concluded contracts in the military sphere in the amount of $110 billion.

In contrast to that reception, current US President Joe Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia in mid-July 2022 was much less productive and, as observers noted, in a rather cool atmosphere. Biden, for example, did not meet with the king at all, and at a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, he again recalled his involvement in the murder of opposition journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

The very fact of Xi’s upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia is noteworthy, but China’s opportunities in the Middle East should not be overestimated yet, says Sergey Demidenko, Associate Professor at the RANEPA Institute of Social Sciences. According to him, Saudi Arabia remains a state tightly included in the US orbit in many aspects, including financial. The expert calls the Saudi royal house a significant part of the Western economic establishment because of their large investments in the US economy. The Saudis are also heavily dependent on the Americans in the military sphere due to the large supply of weapons and the presence of their military bases in the region, Demidenko notes, and one cannot expect similar guarantees from China yet. At the same time, Xi’s visit to Saudi Arabia can be viewed in the context of cooling relations between Riyadh and Washington, the expert says, but so far this is only a signal that the Saudis have options if necessary to restructure their foreign policy.

China is stepping up its foreign policy even while maintaining a “zero tolerance” policy towards COVID-19 within the country, notes Yana Leksyutina, professor at St Petersburg University. Thus, according to her, China seems to be trying to make up for two lost years in diplomacy, when Xi did not leave his country. In the context of volatility in world prices for energy resources, relations with the countries of the Middle East become a particularly important factor for China, which depends on their imports. Xi, according to Leksyutina, may try to secure long-term promises from the leading Arab states in stable supplies of oil and LNG to China. At the same time, the expert agrees that the Middle East is also of particular importance for Beijing in the face of growing global rivalry with the United States.