China’s Xi Jinping meets Saudi rulers in a game of economic power: ‘No longer a competitor’

Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Saudi Arabia this week for meetings that could see tens of billions of dollars invested in the country.

“I would argue that this is a huge turning point,” Dr. Theodore Karasik, a fellow in Russia and Middle East affairs at the Jamestown Foundation, told Fox Business. “Maybe it’s an inflection point for the region in terms of the Chinese presence, and that means it Beijing is no longer a competitor for them.”

“Because of the changing security environment, and because of the direction in which economic geography is heading, the logical choice for the Saudis is to head east,” he added.

Xi will land in Saudi Arabia on Thursday to begin three days of meetings between the leaders of the two countries, aimed at strengthening an already rosy partnership between Beijing and Riyadh: China has ranked first for Saudi Arabia’s exports and imports since 2018, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, invites Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to watch a guard of honor during a welcome ceremony inside the Great Hall of the People on March 16, 2017, in Beijing. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images/Getty Images)

The visit comes as US and Saudi relations remain tense post-2018 The killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggiwhich allegedly took place with the direct approval of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which overshadowed all US-Saudi interactions in the following years.

It appears that Biden’s recent visit to Riyadh over the summer did not result in the kind of progress the United States would have desired. Reports following the visit indicated that the prince left unimpressed by the president.

Biden has also raised concerns that Saudi Arabia’s agenda appears to align more with Russia’s than with that of the United States. dispute over oil production With gas prices soaring after sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and OPEC+ refusing to back down from its plan to cut production over the coming months.

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One that would make life increasingly difficult for Saudi Arabia, said Gordon Chang, a China expert and senior fellow at the Gladstone Institute. .

Biden’s policy in the Middle East Leaning towards IranTherefore, Tehran’s enemy, Saudi Arabia, is angry with Washington.

“We should not be surprised that the region is turning away from Washington,” he added. “America on January 20, 2021, has gone from the best and most successful policy in the Middle East to what turns out to be the worst.”

President Biden, left, is greeted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the Royal Peace Palace in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, July 15, 2022. (Saudi Arabia’s Royal Court/Handouts/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images/Getty Images)

“We cannot believe that there will be no serious consequences. Among other things, we are rapidly losing friends in Riyadh and in the capitals of the Gulf Cooperation Council,” he added.

Xi’s visit could widen this gap as the crown prince seeks more investment from China. Former President Donald Trump’s visit in 2017 It has yielded nearly $100 billion in contracts for the US military industry, but the kingdom has already concluded contracts far beyond those with China — such as the $500 billion Neom project.

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A US State Department spokesperson told FOX Business that they will refer to the Chinese Foreign Ministry regarding the details of the visit, which the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson did not comment on during a press briefing on Tuesday.

The State Department spokesperson stressed that the Biden administration has “consistently” made the point that the United States has never asked countries to “choose between the United States and the People’s Republic of China” or “any other country.”

President Joe Biden, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands before their meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit, November 14, 2022, in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon/AP Newsroom)

“Our goal is to give countries around the world a choice and to make choosing the United States and what we bring to the table the most attractive option available,” the spokesperson said. “The United States remains deeply committed to security in the Middle East, and our comparative advantage in building alliances and partnerships and integrating defense structures is unparalleled.”

The crown prince has focused on helping diversify his kingdom’s economic interests as the world shifts away from oil and gas, with some countries already banning production of gas-powered cars in the next 20 years.

The Saudi Press Agency stated that the side meetings during the Saudi-Chinese summit may result in more than 20 agreements worth 110 billion riyals – nearly $29 billion – in addition to more strategic partnership agreements between the two countries.

But the final details of those deals — and the concessions each side ends up making — will indicate how aligned the two countries are with their goals, according to Karasik.

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“From the point of view of the United States, the best outcome would be for some of these contracts to remain memorandums of understanding, or the indifference during the three different summits shows the lack of a unified position between specific Gulf countries and Asia,” Karasik said.

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had not responded to FOX Business’ request for comment by the time of publication.