The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Xi Jinping may visit Saudi Arabia within a week: What message does the first China-Arab summit convey?

2022-12-04T02:20:10.739Z


According to a Reuters report on November 30, three Arab diplomats familiar with the relevant plans revealed that Saudi Arabia will host the first China-Arab summit on December 9, when the Chinese country that will be visiting Saudi Arabia will


According to a Reuters report on November 30, three Arab diplomats familiar with the relevant plans revealed that Saudi Arabia will host the first China-Arab summit on December 9, when Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is visiting Saudi Arabia, will personally Attend.


As early as August 11 this year, the "Guardian" published an exclusive report, saying that "Xi Jinping will visit Saudi Arabia within a week. The itinerary will include the capital Riyadh, the port city of Jeddah, and the new future city under planning." However, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs No comment on this news, saying that there is "no information to provide" on the media reports of Xi Jinping's visit to Saudi Arabia; On October 27, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan chaired the China-Saudi High-Level Joint Committee At the fourth meeting of the Political and Diplomatic Subcommittee, Faisal once again revealed that "Saudi Arabia is arranging a summit between the two heads of state after Xi Jinping's visit." This is the first time since August that the Saudi side has confirmed the arrangements for Xi Jinping's visit.

On November 22, the Chinese Consulate General in Dubai issued a press release stating that the first China-Arab Summit will be held in Saudi Arabia in early December. At that time, there were many media speculations that the summit might be related to Xi Jinping’s visit to Saudi Arabia; now "Reuters" re-released the news. Even though the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not yet confirmed it, combined with Saudi Arabia's previous release of "the summit of the two heads of state is being arranged", and China's recent disclosure of "the China-Arab summit will be held in early December", it will be confirmed in the next week. It is a high probability period for Xi Jinping to visit Saudi Arabia.

If the trip takes place, it will be Xi Jinping's first visit to Saudi Arabia in seven years.

According to Reuters, two Arab diplomats and a fourth source with direct knowledge of the visit said that Xi Jinping plans to arrive in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, on December 7, and that the Chinese delegation will communicate with Gulf countries and other Arab countries. Dozens of agreements and memorandums of cooperation were signed, covering areas such as energy, security and investment. "Many Arab leaders are expected to attend, and other countries will send at least their foreign ministers".

In short, regardless of whether Xi Jinping visits Saudi Arabia or not, the first summit between China and the Arab countries will have an extraordinary start.

On March 16, 2017, President Xi Jinping and King Salman of Saudi Arabia jointly attended the closing ceremony of the "Road to Arabia & Saudi Unearthed Cultural Relics Exhibition" held at the National Museum.

(China News Agency)

Centering on Sino-Saudi relations

Among them, the choice of Saudi Arabia as the host country of the first China-Arab States summit shows the importance Beijing attaches to Sino-Saudi relations.

Over the past three decades, the cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia in the political, economic and military fields has continued to deepen.

At present, Saudi Arabia is China's largest trading partner in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, and it is also China's largest crude oil supplier, and China is also Saudi Arabia's largest trading partner and crude oil customer, so there will be "Saudi Arabia considers oil settlement in RMB" The wind came out.

Taking the data of 2021 as an example, the Chinese market accounts for 27% of Saudi Arabia’s total crude oil exports and nearly a quarter of the total exports of chemical industry products. The bilateral trade volume between the two countries in the same year was 87.3 billion U.S. dollars. 418 million US dollars, an increase of more than 200 times.

In addition, Saudi Arabia is also the largest recipient of Chinese contracting and investment in the Middle East, with a quota of US$43.5 billion from 2005 to 2021; at the same time, Saudi Arabia has invested or plans to invest US$35 billion in Chinese projects, of which the chemical production capacity is as high as 75 billion 10,000 tons, accounting for 45% of the total overseas production capacity of Saudi producers.

On March 16, 2017, President Xi Jinping held talks with King Salman of Saudi Arabia at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

(China News Agency)

However, even though the bilateral trade volume between China and Saudi Arabia is huge, its foundation is relatively narrow. Until 2021, more than 95% of China's imports from Saudi Arabia will still be petroleum, plastics and organic chemicals.

Therefore, in addition to the original energy trade, the two sides have also tried to expand cooperation opportunities in infrastructure, communications, high-tech, industry, finance, transportation, renewable energy, nuclear energy and other fields in recent years.

The most striking of these is the connection between China's "Belt and Road" Initiative (BRI) and Saudi Arabia's "Vision 2030".

The latter is Saudi Arabia's development strategy, which aims to reduce the country's dependence on the oil economy and promote the diversification of economic development routes.

The docking of the two projects provides an institutional space for cooperation outside energy trade.

Of course, the interaction between China and the major powers in the Middle East is not limited to Saudi Arabia, and Iran is also one of the targets.

In 2021, China and Iran signed a 25-year comprehensive cooperation plan. The exposure of the news once caused tension in Saudi Arabia. First, Saudi Arabia has always been worried about Iran’s military expansion. Second, Western media continued to hype that China and Iran will conduct military cooperation, which made Saudi Arabia worry about Iran. Found a strong Olympic aid.

However, the essence of the China-Iran cooperation plan is that Iran sells energy at low prices in exchange for China's large investment in Iran; facing controversial topics such as Iran's military and nuclear development, Beijing has always been cautious. Although it supports nuclear agreement negotiations, it is unwilling to negotiate with Iran. Military issues are over-linked, after all, the result will be sacrificing interaction with Arab countries.

Therefore, under the continuous communication between China and Saudi Arabia, the 25-year cooperation plan between China and Iran did not affect the relationship between the two countries in the end.

In fact, not only Iran, but also China's military exchanges with Middle Eastern countries have always been limited.

In the case of Saudi Arabia, despite increased economic and diplomatic engagement, the two countries’ defense relationship remains limited to joint exercises, counterterrorism cooperation, sales of some weapons systems, and joint production of armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

The key reason is that the Saudi military has long relied on U.S. arms, making it difficult for Chinese products to integrate with existing systems.

Taking the data from 2017 to 2021 as an example, Saudi Arabia is the second largest arms importer in the world after India, accounting for 11% of the world's major arms imports, but less than 1% of the arms are purchased from China, while the United States supplies 82% of the country's arms imports.

Of course, the defense cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia is not without prospects. In particular, Saudi Arabia may obtain technology transfer of some drones, light weapons, armor and even missiles by strengthening its strategic partnership with Beijing. However, in the short term, US-Saudi military trade will still continue. is mainstream.

On March 24, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed in Riyadh.

(Reuters)

Arab countries as a "middle ground"

The interaction between China and Saudi Arabia can be regarded as the epitome of its cooperation with the pan-Arab world.

Today's Middle East order is constructed by two forces.

First, the rise and competition of major powers in the region are mainly reflected in the competition and cooperation between Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Iran; second, the entry and exit of major powers outside the region, the most obvious in recent years is the United States seeking to turn under the "Indo-Pacific Strategy" , Russia's strengthening of its military presence after the "Arab Spring", and China's various injections under projects such as the "Belt and Road Initiative".

In short, under the multipolar international order, a multipolar intraregional order has also emerged in the Middle East.

Affected by this structure, the highest goal of the Arab countries as a "middle ground" is still to seek some kind of geopolitical balance and hedging among major powers, and to maximize their own national interests.

Take Saudi Arabia as an example. The U.S.’s withdrawal from the Middle East has made it aware of potential security concerns. Although Saudi Arabia is alienating the U.S. and gradually deepening economic and trade interactions with China, it also believes that China cannot replace the U.S. and provide a security umbrella for itself or other Gulf countries. Beijing also lacks the above-mentioned strategic motivations.

On September 18, 2019, US Secretary of State Pompeo visited Saudi Arabia.

(VCG)

Therefore, observing Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy in recent years, it can be found that it is working in two directions: first, strengthening its own independent military capabilities, and increasingly seeking multi-defense interactions with China, India, and Russia; second, deepening its relationship with the largest economic When partnering with China, resist the political pressure of the United States to "reduce cooperation with China", and gradually move from the past strategic dependence to strategic independence.

The second tendency mentioned above also applies to the Arab world today.

In terms of economic development, most Arab countries have deepened their economic and trade interactions with China.

In 2021, the stock of China-Arab two-way direct investment will reach US$27 billion, an increase of 2.6 times compared with 10 years ago, and the trade volume between China and Arab countries will reach US$330.3 billion, an increase of 1.5 times compared with 10 years ago; in the first three quarters of 2022, China-Arab The trade volume reached US$319.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 35.28%, which is close to the level of the whole year of 2021.

In terms of scientific and technological cooperation, China has also demonstrated the strength of a rising power and attracted the participation of Arab countries.

In the field of 5G communications, Chinese companies have become key partners in the field of 5G communications in Arab countries, with high market shares in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain and other countries; An agreement on the peaceful use of nuclear energy was signed, and cooperation intentions were reached in fields such as uranium mine exploration, nuclear fuel supply, and nuclear power plant operation and maintenance; in the field of aerospace satellites, China and Arab countries established a cooperation mechanism for the China-Arab Beidou Cooperation Forum, and completed the Beidou satellite navigation in Tunisia The system's first overseas center, and signed a number of cooperation projects in the field of aerospace satellites with Algeria, Sudan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other countries. Wait for launch.

A high-speed rail station in the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

(Visual China)

In the political arena, Arab countries are increasingly not cooperating with the United States' anti-China mobilization.

After the "Arab Spring" in 2010, the symbols of freedom and democracy such as modernization, universal values, and color revolutions proclaimed by the West were severely damaged. Many Arab political elites have noticed the "Chinese model" and believe that this system is more avoidable. Political turbulence, while bringing about stable economic growth, is a more suitable reference type for its own country; and China's political principle of "non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries" will also help expand interactions with Arab countries. On the issues of Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and Taiwan , most Arab countries also support China's position.

In the final analysis, seeking development and seeking strategic independence are the "universal values" of the Arab world today. As a newly emerging power, China does not require other countries to choose sides, but can also be used in areas such as infrastructure construction, economic and trade cooperation, and technological development. , to provide more choices for Arab countries, and will become an important partner of Arab countries under the changing situation of the multi-polar world.

From this perspective, whether it is Xi Jinping's visit to Saudi Arabia or the first China-Arab summit, they are only phased nodes in this changing situation. The interaction and cooperation between China and Arab states in the new era is gradually entering the deep water area.

The first China-Arab summit was held in Saudi Arabia. What political signal does it send?

Sino-Saudi relations play an important role in Sino-Arab interactions.

What important trends in China-Arab relations are reflected in the China-Saudi Arabia interaction?

The Arab countries hope to deepen the economic and trade interaction with China, and at the same time seek national strategic independence, and seek balance and hedging under the increasingly multi-polar relationship between major powers.

What important signal does "Xi Jinping's upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia" convey?

Will China assist Saudi Arabia in developing nuclear weapons?

Changes in the Middle East collide with Russia-Ukraine conflicts: The United States and Russia are competing for the layout of Turkey and Saudi Arabia When Turkey and Saudi Arabia shake hands again: How did the changes in the Middle East take shape?

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2022-12-04

You may like

News/Politics 2024-01-30T12:30:26.614Z
News/Politics 2024-02-20T12:42:19.235Z

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.