Lawmakers urge Biden to use caution with Saudis
WASHINGTON — Several Democratic lawmakers in the House have signed a letter urging President Joe Biden to take a more guarded approach to Saudi Arabia and warn the kingdom against pursuing more strategic cooperation with China on ballistic missiles.
The letter comes as Biden is planning to travel to Saudi Arabia this summer, a trip some leading Democrats have criticized.
Citing Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s role in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist, Biden should not go to Saudi Arabia, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chair of the House Intelligence Committee, who led the drafting of the letter, said Sunday.
The letter — from Schiff, four other committee members and another senior lawmaker — does not urge Biden to call off his trip, but it says that engagement with the kingdom should be aimed at “recalibrating that relationship to serve America’s national interests.”
The lawmakers raise six points for the administration to focus on with the Saudis: global oil markets, the war in Yemen, the detention of human rights activists, the investigation of Khashoggi’s killing, efforts to acquire civil nuclear technology and military cooperation with China.
China is helping Saudi Arabia build ballistic missiles and acquire more capable ones, U.S. officials say. The letter is the first time U.S. lawmakers have publicly raised the missile issue with the White House and urged action on it.
In December, CNN reported that U.S. intelligence officials had assessed that China had shared important ballistic missile technology with Saudi Arabia.
U.S. officials are also worried that Saudi Arabia might try to build nuclear weapons if Iran develops one.
Saudi Arabia is a close U.S. partner and a major buyer of U.S. military hardware. But as the kingdom and Crown Prince Mohammed came under increasing criticism after Khashoggi was killed, Saudi Arabia stepped up its work with China, which is a major buyer of Saudi oil and has growing military interests across the Indo-Pacific region.
Saudi Arabia has pushed to improve its missile capabilities as Iran, its main rival, has done the same. Iran has short- and medium-range ballistic missiles capable of hitting any part of the Middle East and southern Europe.
Saudi Arabia remains highly dependent on U.S. military training and equipment, giving the Biden administration leverage. And in their letter, the Democratic lawmakers pressed Biden to use that leverage.
“Public reports indicate that Saudi Arabia is pursuing greater strategic cooperation with China, including further ballistic missile acquisitions,” the letter said. “We urge you to make clear that partnership with China in ways that undermine U.S. national security interests will have a lasting negative impact on the U.S.-Saudi relationship.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during an online event last week that Biden came into office intending to ensure that the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia “was serving our own interests, as well as our values, as we move forward.”
“But also preserving it,” Blinken added, “because it also helps us accomplish many important things.”
He said the administration had tried to address the murder of Khashoggi and was urging the Saudis to help end the war in Yemen and end human rights violations in their own country. But he did not mention Saudi Arabia’s growing military and security ties to China.
“The point I’m making in a long way is we want to make sure that through the relationship, we are addressing the totality of our interests in that relationship,” Blinken said of U.S.-Saudi ties. “We’re trying to put all of that together and take a comprehensive approach to Saudi Arabia, as we do with any other country.”