China offers support for Yemen government as Xi visits Saudi Arabia

Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in Saudi Arabia for a two-day visit as part of a Middle East tour that will include stops in Egypt and Iran. The statement was released by China’s Foreign Ministry after Xi met Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz in Riyadh on Tuesday.

“I believe it will deepen the mutual strategic trust, lead to greater achievements in our mutually beneficial cooperation, and help facilitate and broaden our shared interests in worldwide and regional affairs”, Xi said on the upgrade of bilateral ties.

“About 2,000 years ago, the Silk Road linked Saudi Arabia and China together….”

“Neighborly tensions, like those between Saudi Arabia and Iran, will not turn into friendship overnight”, he said.

The two countries signed a slew of cooperation deals after the talks between their leaders, covering sectors such as energy, communications, environment, culture, aerospace, science and technology. “And the kingdom appreciates your efforts towards this”, King Salman told President Xi, according to the SPA. For example, the Middle East lags behind in infrastructure and manufacturing industries but has huge oil reserves while China is just the opposite. Two-way trade reached US$69.1 billion in 2014.

In their joint statement on establishing a comprehensive strategic partnership, China and Saudi Arabia vowed to increase cooperation in security as well as regional and global affairs.

Analysts for The Diplomat suggest that China may have expressed support for the Yemeni government over the Houthis both to ingratiate itself with Saudi Arabia and to remain consistent in supporting “stable” regimes over rebellion, having to quell its share of separatism in western Xinjiang province, Taiwan, and Hong Kong itself. The “legitimate regime” of Yemen fled the capital, Sanaa, in January 2015 after the Shiite Houthi rebels invaded the city.

Saudi officials have also in recent years voiced fears that their most powerful ally, the United States, is disengaging with the Middle East, something some of them have said may have contributed to Syria’s descent into civil war.

In addition, the two countries agreed to seek political solutions to regional hotspot issues, and support the establishment of a zone free of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. After fully assuming the country’s leadership in March 2013, Xi has visited many countries, which signify China’s increasingly maturing all-round diplomacy.

Mr. Jahangiri highlighted that both Iran and Pakistan should work in harmony to tackle the terrorism and bolster stability of the region; “relations with neighbors is a priority for the Islamic Republic of Iran’s foreign policy, with Pakistan also being a special case in this grand scheme of policy thank to common cultural and religious features both brother nations enjoyed”, said the first vice-president.