The Chinese special plane flew to the Middle East overnight, and the Saudi prince went to the airport to greet him.
The Middle East sent two "invitations" inviting high-level Chinese officials to visit, namely Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed· bin ·Salman, and U.A.E. Vice President Mohammed.
At the invitation of the high-level leaders of Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia, the Chinese high-level officials went to Saudi Arabia from September 10 to 13 to chair the fourth meeting of the China-Saudi Arabia High-level Joint Committee, and visited Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. respectively.
China-Saudi Arabia relations
On the evening of September 10, the Chinese special plane arrived at the King of Germany Airport in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, and was personally picked up by Prince Mohammed, Deputy Governor of Riyadh Province, and Al-Qasbi, Minister of Commerce of Saudi Arabia.
The Chinese side said that during the visit, it will have in-depth exchanges with Crown Prince Mohammed on China-Saudi Arabia relations and issues of common concern. We look forward to strengthening the synergy between the development strategies of the two sides and pushing China-Saudi Arabia relations to a higher level through this visit.
At present, there are actually two issues that bother Saudi Arabia the most, one is security and the other is development.
On the one hand, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has dragged on to this day and has caused serious damage to the security situation in the Middle East, which is also a matter of common concern to Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia.
On the other hand, for Saudi Arabia itself, as a country whose economic development is extremely dependent on oil exports, how to avoid falling into the "energy trap" and optimize its industrial structure is the key to solving the development problem.
Saudi Arabia seeks to get out of 'energy trap'
And on both issues, Saudi Arabia is looking to the East for a "prescription".
In June this year, Saudi Defense Minister Khalid · Ben · Salman visited China and held a round of face-to-face talks with Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun.
At that time, the Saudi side expressed the hope of further strengthening strategic communication with China, elevating the relationship between the two militaries to a higher level, and contributing to the maintenance of regional peace and stability.
In this regard, China has never hesitated to share its advanced experience with the Middle East, and in June this year, China and Afghanistan also held a seminar for senior military officers, and senior military officers from the U.A.E., Palestine and other countries came to China for exchanges and study.
As the saying goes, "it is better to teach a man to fish than to teach him to fish", and Saudi Arabia, as a rich oil-producing country in the Middle East, also needs to be independent militarily in order to defend its own interests more effectively.
Saudi Arabia's Minister of Defense visits China
On the other hand, on the issue of economic development, Saudi Arabia is also "learning from China".
From the visits to China by the foreign ministers of the GCC member states and the successive visits by Saudi ministers to China, it can be seen that Saudi Arabia is eager for development and has a sense of urgency to deepen China-Saudi cooperation.
Recently, when the Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources visited China, he also threw out the idea of "petroyuan", saying that he was "open" to using the yuan to settle oil, and at the same time welcomed more Chinese companies to invest in Saudi Arabia.
The recent series of interactions between China and Saudi Arabia have reflected the fact that Saudi Arabia is taking concrete actions to fulfill its commitments to China, and the same is true for China.
In December 2022, the Chinese side visited Saudi Arabia at the highest level and attended the first China-Arab States Summit, and in the joint declaration issued after the meeting, the two sides agreed to strengthen all-round and multi-level exchanges between China and Arab countries and jointly address common development challenges.
At the same time, the two sides also decided to support each other on issues concerning each other's core interests and major concerns.
Saudi Crown Prince Salman
Since the declaration was issued, the two sides have actively implemented the outcome of the meeting, which is the tacit understanding for the development of bilateral relations between China and Arab countries in the future, and has also laid a solid foundation for the interaction between China and Arab countries in the next stage.