Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Saudi Arabia on the 7th to begin a four-day state visit.
China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported that President Xi arrived in Riyadh for the China-Arab Nations Summit and the China-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit.
Xi’s private plane landed at Riyadh airport, escorted by Saudi air force planes spraying smoke in the green and white colors of the Saudi flag.
This was followed by an air show with red and yellow smoke, the colors of the Chinese flag.
After greeting Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and others, Xi left the airport in a private vehicle.
During the visit, Xi will meet King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, respectively, as well as a summit with Arab countries.
China is also expected to sign a $30 billion deal with Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia’s state news agency SPA reported.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the summit was “the biggest and highest diplomatic event between China and the Arab world since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, and will mark an important milestone in bilateral relations.”
Xi’s visit to Saudi Arabia came amid a war of nerves between the US and Saudi Arabia after OPEC+, a coalition of oil-producing countries led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, recently decided to cut crude oil production by 2 million barrels a day.
VOA News
* This article was sourced from Reuters.
