Xi Visit Spotlights Warming Saudi-China Ties, And Their 'limits'

Riyadh, Dec 6 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Dec, 2022 ) :When Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Saudi Arabia from Wednesday, the oil-rich kingdom will seek mostly economic gains rather than a meaningful shift away from its longtime protector the United States, analysts say.

Xi will arrive on Wednesday for a three-day visit including meetings with Saudi royals, the regional Gulf Cooperation Council and other middle East leaders, Saudi state media said.

It coincides with heightened tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United States over issues ranging from energy policy to regional security and human rights.

The latest blow to that decades-old partnership came in October when the OPEC+ oil bloc agreed to cut production by two million barrels a day, a move the White House said amounted to "aligning with Russia" on the war in Ukraine.

On Sunday OPEC+, which includes Saudi Arabia and Russia, opted to keep those cuts in place.

Yet Xi's trip to Riyadh, his first since 2016, is "not just about the United States, or signalling to the United States -- it's about Saudi Arabia itself", said Naser al-Tamimi, an expert on Gulf-China ties at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies.

"The country is changing. They're trying to change the structure of their economy, the structure of their foreign policy. The main theme for them is diversification."China, for its part, "wants to maintain a relatively balanced strategy in the Middle East, so there are inherent limitations to how hard it will lean into the relationship with the Saudis", said Andrew Small, senior transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund's Asia Program.

"Beijing is also well aware of the depth of Saudi-US ties -- despite the current tensions. But if Riyadh wants to hedge, this is a period where Beijing will be keen to take advantage of that."