Perhaps, we’ll see historic significance of China’s top leader Xijinping visited Saudi Arabia in 10 or 20 years from now on.
Without getting into the big picture, there are many very unusual details, completely personal opinions, at least 20 of them. Some of them are courtesy, and my understanding is that Saudi Arabia is going out of its way to provide the highest courtesy possible.
1. The Saudi air force warplanes rose to escort as soon as the Chinese leader’s plane entered the Saudi airspace.
2. “Saudi Eagle” courtesy escort aircraft accompanying the flight as soon as the plane entered the sky over the Saudi capital Riyadh.
3. The Chinese leader stepped out of the cabin, the airport then fired a 21-gun salute to welcome.
4. Prince Faisal, governor of Riyadh province, Prince Faisal, foreign minister, Rumeyan, minister of Chinese affairs and other important members of the Saudi royal family and senior government officials warmly greeted at the airport.
Oh, it feels a little sad to see the American media recalling the scene of Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia in July.
5. King Khalid Airport, the purple carpet that welcomes VIPs. Please note that this time it is purple, not the familiar red.
6. Shah’s protocol escort plane flew overhead, pulling out the red and yellow ribbons symbolizing the Chinese flag.
7. The welcome ceremony was held by Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed on behalf of King Salman. In Saudi Arabia, where the king’s health is not good, much of the power is held by the crown prince. When the Chinese leader’s motorcade arrived, the crown prince was already warmly greeted at the drop-off point.
8, oh, look at the video, the Chinese leader’s car, not only the palace motorcycle team to open the road, but also a special horse team escort, is very powerful and grand.
9. The Saudi Royal Palace Guard extended the grandest welcome to the Chinese leader with the traditional sword-bearing ritual. Please note: the grandest. This ceremony indeed is the highest courtesy of Saudi hospitality which is a unique culture of others.
10. The Chinese leader and the crown prince shook hands warmly. Many in the U.S. media recalled the fist bump between Biden and the crown prince when he visited in the summer of July. CNN’s comment that the fist bump was global headline news at the time, but ultimately defined as a “chilly visit”
11. The Chinese leader and Saudi King Salman personally signed the Agreement on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the People’s Republic of China and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the Royal Palace in Riyadh. It should still be rare for two heads of state to sign it in person.
12. According to this document, it was agreed to hold a meeting of the heads of state in both countries alternately every two years. Such an explicit provision, once every two years, is also rare in the history of Chinese diplomacy. The Sino-Saudi relationship is extraordinary indeed.
13. During the meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince, the two sides agreed to raise the level of the lead of the Sino-Saudi Joint High-Level Committee to that of Prime Minister.
Most similar bilateral lead levels are at the level of deputy prime minister, but between China and Saudi Arabia, it is at the level of prime minister.
14. The two leaders jointly attended a ceremony to exchange texts of cooperation documents in the fields of “One Belt, One Road”, justice, education, hydrogen energy, investment and housing. Anyway, it was a package deal, the amount of money was not reported by the Chinese side, but according to the Saudi side, the total amount reached 100 billion – 110 billion Saudi riyals (equivalent to 29.26 billion U.S. dollars).
15. The Saudi side firmly supports the one-China principle and the Chinese side’s efforts to safeguard its sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, as well as the measures and efforts taken by the Chinese side to de-radicalize the country.
16. China supports the Saudi side’s “Vision 2030”, “Green Middle East” and a series of other major development initiatives, and is willing to actively participate in the Saudi industrialization process and help diversify the Saudi economy. …… The Saudi side is willing to continue to actively co-construct the “Belt and Road” with China, expand trade and mutual investment, welcome more Chinese enterprises to actively participate in the Saudi industrialization process, participate in major infrastructure construction and energy projects in Saudi Arabia, and strengthen cooperation in the automotive, science and technology, chemical, mining and other fields.
17, the Saudi Crown Prince thanked China for supporting Saudi Arabia to become a dialogue partner of SCO, seeing that some foreign newspapers speculated that China also supports Saudi Arabia to join BRICS. Anyway, multi-channel and all-round cooperation.
18, China agreed to list Saudi Arabia as a destination country for outbound tours for Chinese citizens in groups. For its part, Saudi Arabia will continue to enhance its Chinese language education capacity.
19, Saudi Arabia is an important country in the Middle East, this time in Saudi Arabia, in the words of Saudi friends, is held in the “three rings summit” of China-Saudi Arabia, China-China and China-Arabia leaders meeting. This is a major initiative of China’s Middle East diplomacy, and undoubtedly an important event, and the Saudi Crown Prince also promised that the Saudi side is willing to play an active role in promoting the further development of Arab-Chinese relations and sea-China relations.
20, I know that what everyone is most concerned about is probably still energy cooperation. Including the direct purchase of oil in RMB that has been rumored. I’m not quite sure because I haven’t seen the specific documents, but in the long run, it’s inevitable. Petrodollar petrodollar, but the future of oil, not just petrodollar, there must be petro-euro, petro-renminbi.
Why did this result happen?
I have always felt that it is the result of a combination of the big international picture and diplomatic wisdom. Let’s talk about two points.
First of all, China needs Middle East oil and Saudi Arabia other countries need the Chinese market. This is mutually beneficial cooperation. The United States used to be the world’s largest oil importer, but now China take over its place.
In 2021, China’s crude oil imports from Arab countries total 260 million tons, accounting for nearly 52 percent of total crude oil imports. Arab countries account for five of China’s top 10 crude oil importers, with Saudi Arabia being China’s largest source of crude oil and Qatar expected to become China’s largest supplier of LNG.
China has a market and influence that cannot be replaced by any other country. China-Arab cooperation has its own internal dynamics.
Second of all, the Middle East needs China and resents U.S. hegemony. This is the contrast. You may notice that China always cooperates with both sides, for example, “One Belt, One Road” policy.
Moreover, China has a long history of friendship with Arab countries, and not only traditional energy cooperation. China’s infrastructure and energy transition and Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar have very deep cooperation. And, as China is well aware, there are also conflicts and frictions in the Middle East countries, but it does not matter, China is a friend.
What about the United States? Anyway, we saw that Biden visited Saudi Arabia in July and strongly pressured the Saudis to increase production to lower oil prices and thus reduce U.S. inflation. But what happened? Saudi Arabia slightly increased production and then significantly reduced it, exasperating the US by declaring that it would investigate its relationship with Saudi Arabia.
In fact, the United States is very domineering in the Middle East.
Especially interference in the internal affairs of the Middle East, the control of the petrodollar, so the Middle East countries are very disgusted.