About a month after President Joe Biden's visit to Saudi Arabia - which was characterized by a relatively cool reception - Chinese President Xi Jingping intends to visit the kingdom next week and be received with the honor of kings, the British "Guardian" reported on Thursday.
This is the 69-year-old Xi's first visit since January 2020, i.e. since the outbreak of the Corona epidemic, and he missed important international conferences such as the UN leaders' conference, the G20 conferences, and the climate conference in Glasgow (although he participated virtually). This is actually a significant landmark that China apparently wants to broadcast to the world that the communist country will soon open up to the world, just months before the communist party that has ruled the country for 70 years is expected to appoint him to a third and historic term as part of the removal of the constitutional restrictions he promoted.
As you may remember, Biden's visit came after about a year of an unofficial boycott of the royal house and especially of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman because of his involvement in the murder case of a US resident and opponent of the Saudi regime, journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Biden even called during the presidential campaign to turn Saudi Arabia into a "leper" and after his election he released a secret report by the American intelligence that actually put the responsibility for the murder on Bin Salman himself.
Be that as it may, if Xi's visit does take place, he is expected to be received with pomp and splendor as only the Saudi royal family knows how to do to those it wishes to visit.
According to the report, on the route of the visit - which will be spread over Riyadh, Jeddah and the new and futuristic city that is being built on the Red Sea coast of Nyom - the hosts are preparing to wave thousands of greeting banners in the colors of the Chinese flag and expect to receive hundreds of important people.
The visit is expected to upgrade China's position in the region as an ally of the world's most important oil supplier, and to emphasize the coolness between Riyadh and Washington, which was expressed, among other things, in the royal family's refusal to significantly increase the production of the material despite the request of the United States. Saudi Arabia also consistently does not to express criticism of China's conduct towards the democratic activists in Hong Kong or regarding the harsh allegations against it regarding the treatment of the Muslim minority in the northwest of the country. At the same time, China does not criticize Saudi Arabia regarding its conduct in the civil war in Yemen or the Khashoggi case.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry responded to the report tersely on Thursday, saying it had no information to share regarding Xi's visits, but did not deny it.
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