This week, the leader of China, Xi Jinping, is in Saudi Arabia to participate in two regional summits as part of ongoing efforts to jumpstart economic growth that has been hampered by stringent anti-COVID-19 policies.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday that President Xi will travel to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, where he will participate in the first China-Arab States Summit and meet with the heads of state of the six nations that make up the Gulf Cooperation Council. On Saturday, he will return home from his official visit to Saudi Arabia.
Attendance by President Xi at the China-Arab States Summit is being hailed as the "largest and highest-level diplomatic event between China and the Arab world since the founding of the People's Republic of China" and "will become an epoch-making milestone in the history of China-Arab relations," a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry told reporters at a daily briefing on Wednesday. Xi's participation in the summit will take place on Thursday and Friday.
Mao expressed China's expectation that the summit will pave the way for future cooperation between the two parties, "help create more strategic mutual understandings on significant regional and international issues... and safeguard multilateralism," as he put it.
The final statement was an apparent reference to China's efforts to disrupt the international order that is dominated by the United States. These efforts have seen Beijing find common cause with Russia, Iran, and other states that are unfriendly to Washington.
This visit by Xi highlights China's status as the world's second-largest economy and as a key source of foreign investment, which has recently been carried out in accordance with Xi's signature "Belt and Road Initiative" as well as the more recent "Global Development Initiative." These projects intend to have Chinese corporations construct and finance roads, power plants, ports, and other types of infrastructure throughout Asia and beyond, significantly expanding Beijing's influence in the developing world.
To this point, they have only had little success, which has led to charges that many of the projects are unfeasible, costly, and unaffordable for the majority of the developing countries who are taking part in them.
Because of its enormous demand, China must import around half of its oil supply. A significant portion of these imports, almost fifty percent, originate in Saudi Arabia and are valued at tens of billions of dollars each year.
Rolling lockdowns were implemented all over China as a response to the COVID-19 outbreak, which caused a significant damage to the country's already faltering economic growth, which had been trending downward for some years.
The Chinese economy experienced a growth rate of 3.9% year-over-year in the three months that ended in September, which was an improvement over the 2.2% growth rate seen in the first half of the year but was still a significant distance from the government's aim.
On Wednesday, China announced a number of actions that will draw back some of the strictest anti-COVID-19 rules that it has in place. These measures include restricting the use of harsh lockdowns and ordering schools without known infections to resume regular courses.
Beijing is protected from criticism for the severe policies it has implemented toward Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities since the Communist Party of China, which rules the country, has many of the same authoritarian characteristics as Saudi Arabia and other Gulf governments. More than one million people have been said to have been placed in detention cells, where they were allegedly coerced into renouncing Islam and swearing allegiance to Xi and the party.
Beijing refutes the allegations, claiming that they have been training Muslims for jobs and eliminating radical, separatist, and terroristic tendencies among the Muslim population.
The political risk consultancy Eurasia Group said in a report that the tone of Xi's visit is "likely to be much more positive" than the visit earlier this year to the kingdom by Vice President Joe Biden of the United States of America. This is because there are no major disagreements between them on the issue of human rights.
The report stated that despite this, "the relationship still has a long way to go if it is to become as deep and nuanced as Saudi-US relationships," which was one of the conclusions of the analysis.
Despite previous assurances from Vice President Joe Biden that Saudi Arabian Leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman would be held accountable for the murder of a journalist based in the United States, the administration of Biden said last month that the prince's high office should protect him from a lawsuit over his role in the incident. The lawsuit was thrown out by a federal judge in the United States on Tuesday.
In exchange for Saudi Arabia's continued support of the world's oil markets, the United States military has long provided Saudi Arabia with protection against external adversaries.
After spending the majority of the year in China, President Xi Jinping is making another move to reestablish his worldwide stature by traveling to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This is only Xi's third travel outside of China since the beginning of the year 2020.
It also comes at a time when questions are being raised about the support that the Chinese population has for Xi, who has aggressively cracked down on free expression and purged political competitors. Xi was given a third five-year term as leader in October, but street protests against "zero-COVID" policies last month saw the most significant public challenge to his rule and may have prompted a relaxation of some measures. The protests took place in the same month that Xi was granted a third five-year term as leader.
Chinese corporations, including construction firms and the telecommunications giant Huawei, have emerged as important actors in Saudi Arabia's effort to modernize its aging infrastructure in recent years. During Xi's visit, it is anticipated that other deals would be completed, particularly those in the defense sector, which is an industry in which Saudi Arabia has showed some signs of moving away from its historic dependence on the United States.
According to a report by the Eurasia Group, "The Saudi visit will allow Xi to be the center of attention, and regional leaders will be open to the Chinese perspective." The fact that these exchanges are taking place against a backdrop of tense relations between the capitals of the Middle East and the United States will not be lost on Beijing.
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