Oil-rich Saudi Arabia and energy-starved China signed defense, security and trade agreements on the first day of Chinese President Hu Jintao's (胡錦濤) visit, a trip both sides expect will enhance burgeoning relations.
Hu also visited the headquarters of Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), the Middle East's largest non-oil industrial company, where he discussed a US$5.3 billion petrochemical project in China in which the Saudis are interested in investing.
Earlier on Saturday, the Chinese leader and King Abdullah oversaw the signing of security, defense, health and trade agreements, the official Saudi Press Agency reported. It did not give details on the deals.
PHOTO: AP
Hu, who arrived on Saturday from the US, told reporters at the airport he expected his trip "will further strengthen the friendship between our two countries and our two peoples as well as expand strategic and friendly cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia."
"China is satisfied with the fruitful achievements in political, economic and cultural cooperation between our two countries," he added.
Hu's trip to Saudi Arabia came three months after Abdullah's visit to China on his first overseas tour as king. It was the first by a Saudi monarch since Saudi Arabia and China established diplomatic relations in 1990.
Hu's trip comes as Saudi Arabia opens up to Asia's growing economic powers in a bid to find stable markets for its oil, step up its international diplomacy and show the West, particularly the US, that if relations worsen, the kingdom has other alternatives, analysts say.
Saudis say the pressure the US Congress recently exerted to drive away a Dubai-based company poised to operate cargo terminals at several US seaports sent a message to Arab and Muslim investors that they are not welcome in the US.
"There's a feeling among Saudis that the US Congress is deriding us, abusing us and insulting us," said Khaled al-Maeena, editor of the English-language Arab News daily.
"We need to maintain links to America, but we are not a gas station. America has to realize we want friends, not masters," Al-Maeena said.
China has been aggressively seeking to strengthen relationships with major oil suppliers as it grows more reliant on imports. Saudi Arabia accounts for about 17 percent of China's imported oil.
Total trade between the two countries -- much of it Saudi oil bought by China -- grew by 59 percent in the first 11 months of last year to US$14 billion.
At SABIC, vice chairman Mohamed al-Mady said his company would "reinforce our presence in China by establishing mega industrial projects."
"The Chinese market is a key strategic global petrochemical market from SABIC's point of view," he added.
SABIC's annual US$2 billion in exports to China include fertilizers, synthetic fabrics, iron, steel and plastic products.
Saudi newspapers, which are government guided, carried advertisements bought by Saudi companies welcoming the Chinese leader. Several said the trip would further strengthen relations between Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, and China, the world's No. 2 oil consumer.
"For China, the kingdom is a strategic trade partner that can respond to China's need for sources of fuel that no other source can provide in terms of quantity and price," wrote Talal Bannan in the Okaz daily. "On the other hand, China, with its technology, can cater to the needs of the Saudi market by providing it with quality products at competitive prices."
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
In the week before his fatal shooting, right-wing US political activist Charlie Kirk cheered the boom of conservative young men in South Korea and warned about a “globalist menace” in Tokyo on his first speaking tour of Asia. Kirk, 31, who helped amplify US President Donald Trump’s agenda to young voters with often inflammatory rhetoric focused on issues such as gender and immigration, was shot in the neck on Wednesday at a speaking event at a Utah university. In Seoul on Friday last week, he spoke about how he “brought Trump to victory,” while addressing Build Up Korea 2025, a conservative conference
China has approved the creation of a national nature reserve at the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島), claimed by Taiwan and the Philippines, the government said yesterday, as Beijing moves to reinforce its territorial claims in the contested region. A notice posted online by the Chinese State Council said that details about the area and size of the project would be released separately by the Chinese National Forestry and Grassland Administration. “The building of the Huangyan Island National Nature Reserve is an important guarantee for maintaining the diversity, stability and sustainability of the natural ecosystem of Huangyan Island,” the notice said. Scarborough
RSS