Pak Sahafat – Saudi Arabia, as a long-time ally, and China, as America’s biggest rival, have sent messages to the White House; Messages with this content that the rules of the game on the Asian chessboard have changed and Riyadh is looking for eastern allies and Beijing in order to isolate America and change its position from the world’s second economy to the first.
The visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Saudi Arabia has been in the center of attention of the world media for several days. A trip whose anti-American side and the sending of signals by the heads of Beijing and Riyadh to the White House is not hidden from anyone; Messages that are actually addressed to none other than Biden and his policies.
Therefore, the observers consider the mentioned trip not only important in terms of economic interests, but also consider it a clear geopolitical message of Saudi Arabia and China to America, in the sense that there is another alternative partner in the world.
In this connection, “Angela Stanzel” from the “Science and Politics” Foundation says that China and Saudi Arabia have been getting closer to each other for several years. With this approach, China conveys the message that it has somehow entered the American sphere of influence with the alliance with Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia and America in the season of growing tensions
Xi’s visit to Saudi Arabia took place while relations between Riyadh and Washington are strained over issues such as energy security, regional security and human rights. In addition, in recent years, the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist critical of Saudi Arabia, in Istanbul had cooled the relations between the United States and this country.
After the Ukraine crisis and the West’s need for energy, their relations have somehow become darker, and the last blow to the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia was struck when shortly after Biden’s controversial visit to Saudi Arabia, OPEC Plus ministers, including OPEC members and allies of this organization, like Russia, agreed at a meeting to continue a previously approved plan to cut production by 2 million barrels per day. This decision by OPEC Plus was met with dissatisfaction from Washington, which it referred to as “alignment” with Russia in the Ukraine war.
In a report, MSNBC news channel discussed the decision of OPEC+ to cut 2 million barrels of oil per day and the role of Saudi Arabia in this policy and severely criticized Biden’s recent trip to Riyadh and wrote: US President Joe Biden has many reasons to be angry with his national security team because, contrary to his beliefs, they pressured him for 18 months to adopt such a policy against Saudi Arabia.
According to the source, the reduction in production, especially under the leadership of Saudi Arabia, will be a disastrous issue because this action is more aggressive than the decision announced by OPEC+ members. This decision will not only strongly affect the economy of the United States and the world, but it will also affect other areas that are geopolitically important for Washington. For example, an increase in the price of oil can help Russia to obtain the necessary financial resources for the war against Ukraine. This will probably weaken the determination of the countries that support Ukraine, especially the European powers.
Experts believe that Saudi Arabia is looking to the East, especially China and other parts of the world, in search of foreign direct investment to create new industries and diversify oil without depending on the West. Therefore, the Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, intend to convey this message to America that they do not rely only on Washington.
China and Saudi Arabia’s anti-American goals of deepening relations
The strategic partnership relations between Riyadh and Beijing go back to the era before Ping’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia. These countries signed a strategic partnership agreement in the field of energy in 2016, as a result of which the value of bilateral trade between China and Saudi Arabia reached 65.2 billion dollars in 2020 and about 87.3 billion dollars in 2021. In contrast, the United States and Saudi Arabia had $24.8 billion in bilateral trade, which is almost a third of the trade between China and Saudi Arabia.
As a result of this level of progress in exchanges, China has become Saudi Arabia’s largest trading partner in recent years. China’s exports to Saudi Arabia also reached 30.3 billion dollars. In total, Saudi Arabia is the largest oil supplier to China with an 18% share. Currently, Saudi Arabia exports 1.8 million barrels of oil per day to China.
On the other hand, Saudi Arabia, despite being known as a strategic ally of the United States, but the Saudi rulers sign a strategic cooperation memorandum with Washington’s biggest rival in the world system. In addition, during this trip, 34 cooperation documents worth approximately 30 billion dollars were signed by both sides.
In addition, the “One Belt One Road” plan, investment in the “2030 Development Vision” plan, participation in infrastructure projects (railway, ports, information technology, renewable energy, construction of nuclear power plant, desalination, etc.) is one of the other active areas in the economic relations between the two countries.
In the Chinese military field, in recent years, sales of modern missile systems CSS-6 with a range of 373 miles, solid fuel CSS-5 with a range of 1,118 and CC-2 with a range of 3,418 miles and CH-4, Wing-Long and Wing-Long drones 2 reached an agreement with the Saudi side. Meanwhile, the Westerners had refused to sell ballistic missiles and attack drones to Riyadh in order to maintain the superiority of the Israeli regime in the region and the excuses of human rights.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, “Victor Gao”, the head of the China International Studies Association, said: What is important for Beijing is the expansion of cooperation in the field of technology and defense. China has great potential, and unlike other countries that refuse to sell advanced military systems to Arab countries, it has no qualms about selling the best military technologies to them.
In general, China and Saudi Arabia each pursue their own goals of deepening relations, which are mainly defined in response to American policies. Al Saud and the Arab countries are trying to find other allies in the international arena, considering the consequences of Russia’s war in Ukraine and the feeling of American allies being abandoned by this country.
China is also seeking to diversify its cooperation with the Persian Gulf countries and Arab countries in order to fill the place of the United States by taking advantage of the energy of this geographical area, from the second economy of the world to the first place; An issue that has always fueled the fear and concern of Washington leaders.