Saudi Arabia, China agree on enhancing joint cooperation

By Yasin Aydi

ISTANBUL (AA) - Saudi Arabia and China have agreed to enhance their joint cooperation in different fields and support each other to preserve the integrity of their territories.

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday evening on a three-day official visit.

A joint statement was issued by Saudi Arabia and China following Xi Jinping's meeting with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

Both countries "expressed their satisfaction with the progressive stages of bilateral relations during the past three decades" and stressed on "continuing joint action in all fields" to deepen their comprehensive strategic partnership.

The statement added that they reaffirmed their willingness to "continue to firmly support each other's core interests, support each other in maintaining their sovereignty and territorial integrity."

They also confirmed their joint cooperation in the fields of defense, energy, combating organized-crimes and terrorism, economy, trade, agriculture culture, communications and information technology, sports and health.

Also, both countries expressed their support to find peaceful settlements to the crises in the region including in Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon.

On the Iranian nuclear file, they "agreed on the need to strengthen joint cooperation to ensure the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program."

Both countries also touched upon the Palestinian cause, where they "stressed the need to intensify efforts to achieve a comprehensive and just settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and find a real horizon for resuming serious and effective negotiations in order to achieve peace in accordance with the principle of two-state solution."

During his stay in the oil-rich kingdom, the Chinese president attended three summits; the first China-Arab summit and China-Gulf summit in the capital Riyadh.

The Chinese president’s visit comes three months after US President Joe Biden visited Riyadh amid an energy crisis caused by the Russian war on Ukraine.

Xi’s last visit to Saudi Arabia was in 2016.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar