China To Deepen Cooperation With Saudi Arabia

MNI London: Xinhua reporting that Chinese Vice Premier Li Hifeng has pledged to strengthen cooperation with Saudi Arabia following a meeting with the president of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, and chairman of Saudi Aramco, Amin Nasser, in Beijing.

• Xinhua: "He Lifeng said that China and Saudi Arabia should jointly implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, strengthen the alignment of development strategies, deepen cooperation in areas such as energy, trade, investment, and finance, expand cooperation in emerging areas such as clean energy and high technology, and promote greater development of the China-Saudi Arabia comprehensive strategic partnership."
• Xinhua: "[Al-Rumayyan] said that Saudi Arabia will strengthen economic cooperation with China, continuously expand new areas of cooperation, and achieve greater mutual benefit and win-win results."
• Today's meeting builds on a period of closer cooperation which has included the signing of a “comprehensive strategic partnership” in December 2023, China's mediating role in Saudi-Iranian rapprochement in March 2023, and Riyadh's inclusion into the BRICS bloc in February 2024.
• The Diplomat notes: "[Saudi Arabia] is trying to strike a balance between short-term economic benefits from China and its long-standing strategic alliance with the United States, which is essential for the security and stability of the region."
• IISS notes that since the first China-GCC forum in 2022, "UAE has settled a liquified-natural-gas deal on the Shanghai exchange in renminbi, while Saudi Arabia is also considering using renminbi for its oil trade with China."