Xi hails Middle East thaw in call with Saudi crown prince

Xi hails Middle East thaw in call with Saudi crown prince
by AFP Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) March 28, 2023
Chinese President Xi Jinping lauded what he called the easing of tensions in the Middle East during a call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday, state media reported.

Beijing brokered an agreement between Tehran and Riyadh on March 10 to restore diplomatic ties following a seven-year freeze.

Long bitter rivals, Iran and Saudi Arabia have engaged in a series of proxy conflicts in the region, such as the protracted fighting in Yemen.

In his first comments on the matter to be made public since the deal was struck, Xi said the dialogue promoted by China would "play a major role in strengthening regional unity and cooperation".

Crown Prince Mohammed on Tuesday "expressed the Kingdom's appreciation for the Chinese initiative to support efforts to develop neighbourly relations" between the two sides, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

Saudi Arabia and Iran are now preparing to reopen embassies in each other's capitals, with a meeting between their two top diplomats due before the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Saudi state media said Monday.

A trilateral statement issued after the deal said the Saudi and Iranian delegations "expressed their appreciation and gratitude to the leadership and government of the People's Republic of China for hosting and sponsoring the talks".

0 The deal represented a major breakthrough for Xi, who has pushed for China to play a more proactive role in global affairs during his decade in power.

Saudi agrees to partner with China-led security bloc
Riyadh (AFP) March 29, 2023 - Saudi Arabia has agreed to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as a "dialogue partner", state media reported on Wednesday, the latest indication of closer political ties with China.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was established in 2001 as a political, economic and security organisation to rival Western institutions.

Besides China, its eight members include India, Pakistan and Russia, as well as four central Asian countries -- Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

The cabinet approved the decision at a meeting on Tuesday chaired by King Salman, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

The move would grant Riyadh "the status of a dialogue partner in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization", it said.

Other countries with either observer or dialogue partner status include Egypt, Iran and Qatar.

Riyadh's move to partner with the bloc comes less than three weeks after the unveiling of a landmark China-brokered reconciliation deal with Iran to restore full diplomatic relations that were severed seven years ago.

Long bitter rivals, Shiite-majority Iran and mainly Sunni Saudi Arabia have engaged in a series of proxy conflicts in the region, such as the protracted fighting in Yemen.

Riyadh has said that while it had engaged in previous rounds of bilateral talks with Tehran, the reconciliation process was jump-started by President Xi Jinping's offer last year to serve as a "bridge" between the two Middle East heavyweights.

Xi's role in the rapprochement raised eyebrows given Saudi Arabia's traditionally close partnership with Washington, though that relationship has been under strain recently because of disputes over human rights and oil production.

Xi, in a phone call on Tuesday with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, King Salman's son and the Gulf nation's de facto ruler, lauded what he called the easing of tensions in the Middle East.

In his first comments on the matter to be made public since the Saudi-Iran deal was struck, Xi said the dialogue promoted by China would "play a major role in strengthening regional unity and cooperation".