BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping is attending a pair of regional summits in Saudi Arabia this week amid efforts to kick-start economic growth weighed down by strict anti-COVID-19 measures.
The Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that Xi will attend the inaugural China-Arab States Summit and a gathering with leaders of the six nations that make up the Gulf Cooperation Council within the Saudi capital of Riyadh. His state visit to Saudi Arabia will end on Saturday.
China is the world’s second-largest economy and a serious source of outward investment. To fuel massive demand, it imports half its oil, of which half of those imports come from Saudi Arabia, amounting to tens of billions of dollars annually.
Chinese economic growth rebounded to three.9% over a 12 months earlier within the three months ending in September, up from the primary half of the 12 months’s 2.2%, but still well wanting the federal government goal.
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China’s COVID-19 infection numbers are lower than those of the US and other major countries. However the ruling party is sticking to “zero-COVID,” which calls for isolating every case, while other governments are relaxing travel and other controls and attempting to live with the virus.
China’s ruling Communist Party shares lots of the authoritarian tendencies of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, shielding Beijing from criticism over its harsh policies toward Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. Greater than 1,000,000 have been sent to detention centers where they report being forced to denounce Islam and swear fealty to Xi and the party.
Beijing denies the fees, saying they’ve been providing job training and ridding Muslims of extremist, separatist and terroristic tendencies.
With no major differences between them on human rights, the tone of Xi’s visit is “more likely to be rather more positive” than the visit earlier this 12 months to the dominion by U.S. President Joe Biden, the political risk consultancy Eurasia Group said in a report.
“Nevertheless, the connection still has an extended technique to go whether it is to grow to be as deep and nuanced as Saudi-US ties,” the report said.
Despite Biden’s earlier pledges to carry Saudi Arabian leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman liable for the killing of a U.S.-based journalist, his administration last month said the prince’s high office should shield him from a lawsuit over his role. A U.S. federal judge on Tuesday dismissed the lawsuit.
The U.S. military has long safeguarded Saudi Arabia from external enemies, in exchange for Saudi Arabia keeping global oil markets afloat.
The trip to Saudi Arabia marks an additional move by Xi to revive his global profile after spending many of the pandemic inside China. The visit is just Xi’s third overseas trip since early 2020.
It also comes amid questions on the Chinese public’s support for Xi, who has cracked down relentlessly on free speech and purged political rivals. Xi was granted a 3rd five-year term as leader in October, but street protests against “zero-COVID” policies last month saw essentially the most significant public challenge to his rule and can have prompted a leisure of some measures.
Chinese firms have grow to be major players in Saudi Arabia’s move to upgrade its infrastructure, amongst them construction firms and the telecoms giant Huawei. More deals are expected to be signed during Xi’s visit, including within the defense sector, where Saudi Arabia has shown signs of moving away from its traditional dependence on the U.S.
“The Saudi visit will allow Xi to be the focal point and regional leaders will probably be receptive to the Chinese perspective,” Eurasia Group said in its report. “That these exchanges are coming amid a backdrop of difficult ties between Mideast capitals and Washington won’t be lost on Beijing.”
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