Xi: Riyadh has Beijing’s support

KEVIN BALES, professor of contempo BEIJING: China supports Saudi Arabia’s efforts to safeguard national sovereignty and achieve greater development, President Xi Jinping told King Salman Abdulaziz Al-Saud, at a time of regional tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Lebanon and Yemen.

China has traditionally played little role in Middle East conflicts or diplomacy, despite its reliance on the region for oil. But it has been trying to raise its profile, with King Salman visiting China in March.

Speaking by telephone, Xi told him that China’s determination to deepen strategic cooperation with Saudi Arabia would not waver, no matter how the international and regional situation changed, China’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

Remarking on the importance of maintaining close communications between the two countries’ heads of state, Xi said China and Saudi Arabia were comprehensive strategic partners whose strategic mutual trust was deepening.

“China supports Saudi Arabia’s efforts to safeguard national sovereignty and realise greater development,” the ministry cited Xi as saying.

The statement made no mention of issues such as Lebanese prime minister Saad al-Hariri announcing his resignation in Saudi Arabia, while railing against Riyadh’s bitter foe, Iran, and its Lebanese ally, Hizbollah.

Saudi-led forces, which back the government in Yemen, have also been targeting the Iran-allied Houthis in the country’s civil war.

China has had to tread a fine line between Riyadh and Teheran as Beijing has close ties with Iran as well. Reuters