RIYADH (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping met Persian Gulf Arab leaders in Riyadh on Friday in the first of two “milestone” Arab summits.
Xi, who has been welcomed in Saudi Arabia with pomp and ceremony, signed a strategic partnership pact with the world’s top oil exporter a day before Friday’s meeting with the energy-rich, six-nation Persian Gulf Cooperation Council.
He was due to hold wider talks later with leaders of Arab League states spanning the Persian Gulf, Levant and Africa.
The United States is warily watching the growing influence of economic rival Beijing in the region, where China has vested interest as the world’s biggest energy consumer and Chinese firms are expanding into technology and other infrastructure.
Xi’s visit also comes at a time when Riyadh’s long-standing alliance with Washington has been strained over human rights issues, energy policy and Russia, as well as Persian Gulf doubts about the commitment of main security guarantor America to the region.
At the start of the China-GCC summit, Prince Mohammed heralded a “historic new phase of relations with China”.
He earlier pledged that Persian Gulf states would remain “a safe and reliable source to supply the world with its energy needs”, underlining that oil and gas would continue to be important energy sources for decades.
In a lengthy joint statement, Beijing and Riyadh committed to enhance cooperation and stressed principles of sovereignty and “non-interference”, while affirming the importance of a peaceful solution to the Ukraine conflict.
Saudi Arabia and Persian Gulf allies have defied U.S. pressure to break with fellow OPEC+ oil producer Russia over its war on Ukraine and to limit dealings with China, as they try to navigate a polarized world order with an eye on national economic and security interests.
Oil giant Saudi Arabia is a top supplier to China and the joint statement reaffirmed the importance of global market stability and energy collaboration, while striving to boost non-oil trade and enhance cooperation in peaceful nuclear power.
“The two sides reaffirmed that they will continue to firmly support each other’s core interests.”