Beijing and Riyadh say they will \u2018firmly support each other\u2019s core interests\u2019 during an official visit by President Xi Jinping to the kingdom.
\n Riyadh
\nSaudi Arabia and China have reaffirmed their cooperation on the global oil market and the principle of non-interference in internal affairs during a visit aimed at deepening strategic relations, at a time when Washington\u2019s ties with Riyadh appear increasingly frayed.
\nChinese President Xi Jinping and Saudi King Salman signed a series of strategic deals, including one involving Chinese tech giant Huawei, since the official state visit began on Wednesday.
\nIn a joint statement on Friday, the two sides said they \u201cexchanged views regarding ways to reinforce and develop comprehensive strategic partnership relations between the Kingdom and China\u201d.
\nIt stressed the principles of sovereignty and \u201cnon-interference\u201d, while affirming the importance of a peaceful solution to the Ukraine conflict. In a nod to Gulf security concerns over Iran, another oil supplier to China and with whom Beijing has good ties, they agreed on the need to \u201cstrengthen joint cooperation to ensure the peaceful nature of Iran\u2019s nuclear programme\u201d, and for Tehran to respect \u201cprinciples of good-neighbourliness\u201d.
\nThe Chinese leader said his visit, during which he will meet other Gulf oil producers and attend a wider summit with Arab League countries on Friday, heralded a \u201cnew era\u201d in relations.
\n\u201cChina looks forward to working with Saudi Arabia and Arab states to turn the two summits into milestone events in the history of China-Arab relations and China-GCC relations, and bring these relations to new heights,\u201d the foreign ministry cited Xi as saying.
\nQatar\u2019s emir, Kuwait\u2019s crown prince, and the presidents of Egypt, Tunisia, Djibouti, Somalia and Mauritania are among rulers attending, alongside leaders and prime ministers of Iraq, Morocco, Algeria, Sudan and Lebanon.
\nXi held bilateral talks with several regional leaders ahead of the summits on Friday, such as Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Iraqi Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani, Sudanese leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Beijing and Riyadh say they will \u2018firmly support each other\u2019s core interests\u2019 during an official visit by President Xi Jinping to the kingdom. Riyadh Saudi Arabia and China have reaffirmed their cooperation on the global oil market and the principle of non-interference in internal affairs during a visit aimed at deepening strategic relations, at a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300340,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-300316","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n