Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to travel to Saudi Arabia, the oil-rich kingdom’s foreign minister said, days after the leader of the world’s most populous country won a third term.
Prince Faisal bin Farhan praised the “historic and solid relationship” between the most sensible oil exporter and Beijing after talks with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.
“Our meeting today comes at a vital time as it comes ahead of the Chinese president’s planned scale in the kingdom,” Prince Faisal said in a video broadcast on Saudi television.
Saudi Arabia is “finalizing arrangements” for summit talks between China and Arab countries, he added.
Xi, who extended his decade-long reign last week, left China once since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, when he visited Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in September.
The Chinese embassy in Saudi Arabia did not comment when asked via AFP about Xi’s planned visit.
China’s Foreign Ministry said it had “nothing to offer” about it.
The prospect comes at a time when ties between Saudi Arabia and its longtime ally, the United States, are strained, after the OPEC cartel cut oil production, ignoring calls from Washington.
The resolution angered U. S. President Joe Biden, who flew to Saudi Arabia in July and punched the de facto crown prince, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 37, as he vowed to turn the country into a “pariah” following the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal. . Khashoggi.
Wang said Saudi Arabia occupies a “priority position in China’s overall diplomacy,” to the official Xinhua news agency.
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Xi visited Saudi Arabia in January 2016, a year before Prince Mohammed was named heir to the throne, ushering in an era of reform. The Saudi prince visited China in early 2019.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed. )
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