"It's not a coincidence", "Saudi Arabia's powerful delegation came to Davos, China | status | delegation"
According to the German newspaper Youth World on July 1st, during the recent Summer Davos Forum held in Tianjin, one of the largest official delegations attending was from Saudi Arabia. This delegation consists of 24 members, led by Saudi Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal Ibrahim, as well as five other ministers or deputy ministers, including Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Swah. Sending such a powerful delegation to Tianjin is not a coincidence: Saudi Arabia's economic relations with China are flourishing.
The report states that the development of economic relations between China and Saudi Arabia can be traced back to 1999, when Saudi Arabia and China signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the oil field. Subsequently, Saudi Arabia's oil exports to China grew rapidly. Saudi Arabia once held the position of China's largest crude oil supplier for many years, but has recently been surpassed by Russia. Nevertheless, China remains a major buyer of Saudi oil.
At the same time, Saudi Arabia has begun to comprehensively expand imports from China. Riyadh is committed to freeing its economy from dependence on oil. China, as a supplier of the necessary technology, plays a core role in this regard. Huawei has participated in the construction of Saudi Arabia's 5G network, and the large photovoltaic power plants under construction in Saudi Arabia will use Chinese photovoltaic modules. The trade volume between Saudi Arabia and China has shown strong growth, increasing from approximately $87 billion in 2021 to $116 billion in 2022, which is more than twice the trade volume between Saudi Arabia and the United States.
The report also stated that China's successful mediation between Saudi Arabia and Iran has played a boosting role in bilateral economic relations. China has thus become an important political force in the region. From June 11th to 12th, over 3000 representatives attended the 10th Entrepreneurship Conference and 8th Investment Seminar of the China Arab Cooperation Forum in Riyadh. According to reports, on the first day of the meeting, China and Afghanistan signed more than 30 cooperation agreements with a total scale of approximately 10 billion US dollars. One of the largest agreements among them is a $5.6 billion memorandum of understanding signed between the Saudi Ministry of Investment and Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Chinese Express, which will establish a joint venture to produce high-end cars.
The report goes on to say that Saudi Arabia has been a loyal partner of the United States for many years and will not sever its relationship with Washington. But the country is also systematically upgrading its relationship with China, not only economically but also politically. In March, Saudi Arabia officially became a dialogue partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. In May, it was reported that Riyadh was in talks to join the New Development Bank. Another recent discussion topic is using Chinese yuan instead of US dollars to pay for oil imports from Saudi Arabia.
The report suggests that in this context, Saudi Arabia and China are discussing topics such as further expanding investment in Tianjin, which is also beneficial for China. The West is planning to introduce restrictions on investment in China. In theory, Saudi investment can replace a portion of it.
