Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Riyadh, December 8, 2022. SAUDI PRESS AGENCY/VIA Portal
In the history of Saudi diplomacy, March 2023 is likely to be a milestone. The announcements made by Kingdom officials over the past ten days bode well for a major shift in the conduct of the country’s foreign policy.
It’s not just about the next resumption of diplomatic relations with Iran, which was announced in Beijing on December 10, 2022 – since the signing of the first Iran-Saudi friendship treaty in 1929, relations between the two neighbors have not gone through ups and downs depths . What is new is that this diplomatic normalization is the result of Chinese mediation, in addition to Omani and Iraqi efforts. Saudi leaders were fond of pointing this out, with one saying that China is now “a key player in the security and stability of the Gulf.”
A stone, or rather a cobblestone, in the garden of the United States, traditional protector of the peninsular monarchies, forced to give way to the Chinese outsider in this region. After becoming the main trading partner of Gulf Cooperation Council members two years ago, Beijing, which is also the largest buyer of Saudi crude oil, is reaping the political dividends of its economic investments.
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Cheered at being out of an uneven neck-and-neck race with Washington, the Saudi crown has even taken the liberty of announcing that it could invest in Iran “very quickly”. Once again a snub to the policy of the United States and its Israeli ally based on the isolation of the Islamic Republic.
“Strategic Diversification”
As if to placate old Uncle Sam who worries about the rise of China, the previous day Saudia’s two airlines, Saudia and the brand new Riyadh Air, each ordered 39 787 Dreamliners for long-haul flights from Boeing and put options for 43 additional machines. But this mega-deal will not be enough to mend Saudi-US ties damaged by the 2018 assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi – attributed by the CIA to Crown Prince Mohammed Ben Salman – and disputes over the price of oil.
“What we are witnessing are the premises of the new strategy of Arabia, determined to take full advantage of the multipolar world that follows the era of American omnipotence,” analyzes Cinzia Bianco, specialist in golf at the European Council on Foreign Relations. It’s a strategic diversification, a way to spread bets to better cover yourself. »
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