Saudi’s MBS rolls out the red carpet for China’s Xi, in a not too subtle message to Biden

Blinda Vaganto · Dec 14, 2022

When Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrived in Riyadh on Wednesday, Saudi Arabia received him with the pomp and circumstance normally reserved for the kingdom’s most strategic ally, the United States.

Four fighter jets from the Royal Saudi Air Force escorted Xi’s plane after it entered the country’s airspace. It was then escorted to land by six aerobatic jets dragging green smoke trails, according to China’s state broadcaster CCTV.

Saudi state TV showed Xi walking down the steps of his presidential aircraft at King Khalid International Airport, where he was received by Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz, governor of the Riyadh region, and Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, the Saudi foreign minister.

A purple carpet was rolled out for the Chinese leader, and canons were fired.

The multiple-day visit will include two conferences that will gather leaders from across the Arab world. Dozens of trade, economic and military agreements – to the tune of tens of billions of dollars – will be signed.

Saudi leaders will infuse the trip with a dose of spectacle. Traditional sword dances are likely to be conducted at lavish receptions. The Saudi king – or his powerful Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman – may bestow the Chinese leader with some honors and medals. Many more extravagant expressions of friendship will pepper the diplomatic proceedings, all with a view to underscoring the deepening partnership between Beijing and Riyadh.

It will be reminiscent of the no-frills-spared treatment received by US President Donald Trump during his visit to Riyadh in 2017. That trip was also a carefully choreographed three-day event designed to dazzle, even if sometimes clumsily (the true meaning behind the viral image of Trump touching a glowing orb remains a mystery).

Xi’s red-carpet welcome is a far cry from President Joe Biden’s trip to Riyadh this summer. An unsmiling Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman greeted the President with a fist-bump then publicly embarrassed him during a televised roundtable meeting, announcing a limited increase in oil production that fell far short of US demands. While bin Salman uttered the decision, Saudi state television turned to a visibly exasperated Biden, who appeared to have been caught off-guard by the development.
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https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/07/middleeast/xi-saudi-arabia-china-mbs-mime-intl/index.html

So what is really going on? Does it really mean a divorce between America and the Gulf countries or is CNN just hallucinating?

Is China building another communist empire with no care for human rights or is it just 2 major economic powers meeting each other to discuss some business affairs?

Iranian Monitor · Dec 14, 2022

For some of you, everything is about Biden/Trump.

Anyway, very disappointed in China, missing the forest for the trees. If only America's Iran policies made any sense except as kowtowing to certain special interest groups and masses brain-washed by them. If it did make any sense, Saudi Arabia would know its real place in less than 5 minutes.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/dip...ummit-success-riyadh-raises-temperatures-iran

Xi’s China-Arab summit success in Riyadh raises temperatures in Iran

In a meeting in Tehran with the Iranian president, Chinese Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua hears ‘complaints of the nation’

Iran’s ‘strong dissatisfaction’ was also made clear to China’s ambassador a day after joint declaration from Xi and Gulf leaders

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Iran’s “strong dissatisfaction” over the joint statement was made clear on Saturday, at a meeting between China’s ambassador to Tehran Chang Hua and the Iranian foreign minister’s deputy for Asia-Pacific affairs.

At their summit, Xi and the Arab leaders agreed to make sure that Iran’s nuclear programme was peaceful, and also that GCC member United Arab Emirates should resolve its territorial dispute with Iran – over strategic islands in the Strait of Hormuz – by negotiation.

Iran took control of the islands of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs in 1971, before the governing Gulf sheikdoms gained independence from Britain to form the UAE with other sheikdoms.

Tehran has maintained that its sovereign claim over the three islands is non-negotiable, while the UAE has said Iran’s control of the islands violates international law.

On Sunday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said Chang was told Iran considered “any claim to these islands as a destabilising factor and interference in its internal affairs and its territory, and strongly condemns it”.
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Blinda Vaganto · Dec 14, 2022

Iranian Monitor said: ↑

For some of you, everything is about Biden/Trump.

Anyway, very disappointed in China, missing the forest for the trees. If only America's Iran policies made any sense except as kowtowing to certain special interest groups and masses brain-washed by them. If it did make any sense, Saudi Arabia would know its real place in less than 5 minutes.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/dip...ummit-success-riyadh-raises-temperatures-iran
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Poor ayatollas! Nobody respects them...

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Saudi’s MBS rolls out the red carpet for China’s Xi, in a not too subtle message to Biden

Blinda Vaganto Well-Known Member Past Donor

Iranian Monitor Well-Known Member

Blinda Vaganto Well-Known Member Past Donor

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Saudi’s MBS rolls out the red carpet for China’s Xi, in a not too subtle message to Biden

Blinda Vaganto Well-Known Member Past Donor

Iranian Monitor Well-Known Member

Blinda Vaganto Well-Known Member Past Donor

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