Saudi Arabia and China deepened ties with a series of strategic deals during the visit of President Xi Jinping in Riyadh along with Chinese tech giant Huawei.
The agreement was signed in a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement, by King Mohammed bin Salman and Xi, who received a warm and elegant welcome in the country to make a new global partnership that could go beyond the West.
The signing with China’s Huawei Technologies, on cloud computing and building high-tech complexes in Saudi cities, was agreed despite U.S. unease with Gulf allies over potential security risks in using technology developed by Chinese firms.
Huawei has joined in building 5G networks in most Gulf states without acknowledging U.S. concerns.
In July, Prince Mohammed met Joe Biden, the President of the U.S., whom ties have been strained by Saudi energy policy and the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist, in 2018.
[Photo credit to Xinhua Thai]
