Huawei and more: all the agreements between China and Saudi Arabia
China and Saudi Arabia have signed 34 cooperation agreements, including one with Huawei related to cloud and high-tech cities. Xi speaks of a "new era", while the United States is worried
During Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the country on Thursday, Saudi Arabia and China signed several important agreements, including a global strategic partnership and a cloud computing agreement with telecommunications company Huawei.
The United States – the traditional allies of reference for the Gulf monarchies, but currently on bad terms with Riyadh – fear that China could greatly increase its influence in the Middle East, to the point of undermining American political supremacy over the world.
THE DEAL WITH HUAWEI
In this sense, the agreement between Riyadh and Beijing that is most problematic in the eyes of Washington is the one with Huawei because it concerns technologies of strategic value that the Americans consider risky for security. In addition to cloud systems, the Chinese company has said it intends to build high-tech urban complexes, equipped with ultra-fast Internet connections, in Saudi cities.
Despite US attempts to isolate it internationally, and despite pressure on Arab governments to refuse its services, Huawei has been involved in building 5G networks (the latest standard for mobile phone technologies) in most of the Gulf countries.
NON-INTERFERENCE
In an editorial published in Saudi media, Xi says he has embarked on a "pioneering journey" to Saudi Arabia to "open a new era in China's relations with the Arab world, the Arab Gulf countries and Saudi Arabia". The Chinese president added that Beijing and the Arab states "will continue to fly the flag of non-interference in internal affairs", a concept often invoked by China to fend off international criticism of human rights violations committed in the country.
On this point, Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman said that Riyadh opposes any "interference in China's internal affairs in the name of human rights".
THE QUESTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
It is precisely on human rights that the political rift between Saudi Arabia and the United States has opened: President Joe Biden's foreign policy is based on the promotion of democratic values in the world (a useful issue in an anti-Chinese sense ); this approach, however, conflicts with human rights violations committed in Saudi Arabia. Last year, for example, US intelligence released a declassified report accusing bin Salman of masterminding the 2018 murder of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi.
THE MEETING WITH OTHER ARAB COUNTRIES
Xi will attend a summit of Arab leaders on Friday, during which he will meet representatives of other oil-producing Gulf countries (China is by far the world's largest importer). According to the Chinese president, Beijing wants to make these summits "fundamental events in the history of China-Arabia relations" and sees Riyadh as "an important force in the multipolar world".
Speaking of multipolarity, both Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations such as the United Arab Emirates have specified that they do not want to side with one or the other superpower, and that their relations with China do not represent a choice of field but a way to diversify economic, political and security relations.
THIRTY-FOUR AGREEMENTS BETWEEN CHINA AND SAUDI ARABIA
In all, Chinese and Saudi companies have signed thirty-four agreements on investments in clean energy (such as hydrogen ), information technology, cloud services, transportation, and construction. No details were provided on the agreements, not even on their value; however, the Saudi state news agency Saudi Press Agency had spoken of 30 billion dollars.
One of the pacts announced concerns the synchronization between the Belt and Road Initiative, the major Chinese initiative on infrastructure in the world, and Vision 2030, Prince bin Salman's plan for the diversification of the Saudi economy.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/huawei-e-non-solo-tutti-gli-accordi-tra-cina-e-arabia-saudita/ on Fri, 09 Dec 2022 11:04:13 +0000.