by Judith Bergman
Saudi Arabia is now not only one of China's most important suppliers of energy, but the kingdom is also an important link in China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) -- a gigantic global development project to enhance China's global influence from East Asia to Europe by making countries worldwide increasingly dependent on China. Under the BRI, China has signed cooperation agreements with 20 Arab countries.
China is also Saudi Arabia's largest trading partner -- an arrangement that extends to military cooperation....
Biden took a longstanding ally, Saudi Arabia, and, by repeating that he would make the kingdom a "pariah nation," created an adversary. "For an American president to be silent on the issue of human rights is inconsistent with who we are and who I am," Biden said.
The same concern for human rights has not seemed to bother him, however, when it comes to China or Iran, whose record on human rights is at least as bad as Saudi Arabia's, if not worse.
China jumped in to fill the vacuum.
Xi Jinping has made no secret of his wishes to "replace America as the global superpower" economically, militarily, diplomatically and technologically by 2049. The United States might be "well poised to lead," but is it leading?
When Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Saudi Arabia on December 7 for his first visit since 2016, he was welcomed with a lavish reception. Fighter jets escorted his plane into Saudi airspace, a purple carpet was rolled out, and cannons were fired. Saudi Arabia's de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), welcomed Xi the next day with a ceremony, during which Xi's car was escorted by members of the Saudi Royal Guard on horseback and carrying the flags of both countries, followed by a welcoming banquet.
The contrast to the low-key reception of US President Joe Biden last July could hardly have been greater. Biden took a longstanding ally, Saudi Arabia, and, by repeating that he would make the kingdom a "pariah nation," created an adversary.
"For an American president to be silent on the issue of human rights is inconsistent with who we are and who I am," Biden said. The same concern for human rights has not seemed to bother him, however, when it comes to China or Iran, whose record on human rights is at least as bad as Saudi Arabia's, if not worse. China jumped in to fill the vacuum.
Saudi Arabia is now not only one of China's most important suppliers of energy -- a leading American industry that the Biden administration abandoned on day one -- but the kingdom is also an important link in China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) -- a gigantic global development project that Chinese President Xi Jinping launched in 2013 to build an economic and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe, Africa and beyond.
The BRI seeks dramatically to enhance China's global influence from East Asia to Europe by making countries worldwide increasingly dependent on China. Under the BRI, China has signed cooperation agreements with 20 Arab countries.
China is also Saudi Arabia's largest trading partner -- an arrangement that extends to military cooperation, which China's Minister of National Defense, Wei Fenghe, and Saudi Arabia's Deputy Defense Minister, Khalid bin Salman, agreed to boost in January.
During Xi's visit, furthering the continued expansion and deepening of ties between the two countries, Saudi Arabia and China signed a series of strategic deals, including a "comprehensive strategic partnership agreement" and another with Huawei
Technologies on cloud computing, data centers and building high-tech complexes in Saudi cities. The two countries also signed numerous agreements on hydrogen energy, Chinese language education, digital economy, and an "alignment plan" between China's BRI and Saudi Arabia's economic diversification program.
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Judith Bergman, a columnist, lawyer and political analyst, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
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Pictured: The Chinese and the Saudi flags fly in Riyadh, on December 7, 2022, ahead of Xi's visit to the Saudi capital. (Photo by Fayez Nureldine/AFP via Getty Images)
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