Chinese and Saudi Arabian companies have signed investment pacts for hydrogen and solar energy during a visit to the kingdom by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
Xi is in the kingdom to meet Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and other Arab leaders for a trip that marks the region’s deep and growing ties with Beijing, as US ties come under pressure.
There were no further details on the energy pacts announced by the state-run Saudi Press Agency.
Photo: AFP / NEOM
The news agency said 34 investment deals had been signed, including in sectors such as information technology, cloud services, transportation, logistics, medical industries, housing and construction.
Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest oil exporter, and China its top customer, making their relationship key to the crude oil market.
However, both countries are looking to gradually diversify their energy mix.
Photo: AFP / HO / SPA
Saudi Arabia has started work on a facility for environmentally-friendly sourced hydrogen in Neom, a city under construction.
The green hydrogen, a fuel seen as crucial to the global transition to cleaner energy, would be generated using solar and wind power.
“The Kingdom enjoys a strategic geographical location linking three continents” and overlooks some of the most important water crossings and energy resources, the news agency cited Saudi Arabian Minister of Investment Khalid al-Falih as saying.
Xi’s trip comes two months after Saudi Arabia angered the US by orchestrating a big oil-production cut by OPEC+ and cast itself as an emerging power capable of standing up to pressure from Washington.
China praised this stance.
The two countries are planning to bolster collaboration at the UN, the G20 and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Xi wrote in an editorial in the Saudi Arabian Al Riyadh newspaper.
“It suits both Riyadh and Beijing to highlight they have other options to the US, or important partnerships on the world stage that do not include the West,” said Raffaello Pantucci, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
China’s engagement with the region shows that “an alternative world order” can exist, he added.
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