Here's a news article by Xinhua, covering President Xi Jinping's visit of Saudi Arabia.
Rough translation:
Rough translation:
From Xinhua News Agency: An "Important Milestone" for China-Saudi Arabia Relations!
After six years, President Xi Jinping visited Saudi Arabia again. President Xi Jinping held talks with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed and met with King Salman on December 8th, local time. The two sides jointly drew up the development of China-Saudi Arabia relations and reached a series of important consensus, highlighting the strategic and global nature of China-Saudi Arabia relations.
Under the leadership of the head of state diplomacy, the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Saudi Arabia will continue to build on its success and take a new step forward.
Special Arrangements show the Highest Courtesy
In the afternoon of December 7, local time, after the special plane entered Saudi airspace, four Saudi air force warplanes rose to escort the plane; when the special plane entered the sky over Riyadh, six "Saudi Eagle" protocol escort planes accompanied the plane. After the arrival of the plane, the airport fired a 21-gun salute, and the protocol escort aircraft pulled out the red and yellow ribbons symbolizing the Chinese flag in the air, and were warmly greeted by important members of the royal family and senior government officials.
At noon local time on Dec. 8, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed held a welcoming ceremony for Xi Jinping at the Royal Palace in Riyadh on behalf of King Salman.
The Saudi Royal Palace motorcycle and horse teams escorted Xi Jinping's car to arrive, and were warmly greeted by Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed at the drop-off point.
On the afternoon of 8th, at the Royal Palace in Riyadh, Xi Jinping was awarded an honorary doctorate degree in management from King Saud University, the first Saudi university. The Saudi side said it was to highlight President Xi Jinping's great achievements in governance and his important contributions to Saudi-Chinese friendship and cooperation. Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed accompanied the ceremony.
"An Important Milestone"
After the welcome ceremony, Xi Jinping held talks with Crown Prince Mohammed at the Royal Palace in Riyadh. Xi Jinping pointed out that the current international and regional situation is evolving in a profound and complex manner, and the strategic and global nature of Sino-Saudi relations has become more prominent. China has placed the development of relations with Saudi Arabia as a priority in the overall diplomatic situation, especially in the Middle East, and is willing to work with the Saudi side to promote greater development of the China-Saudi comprehensive strategic partnership.
Xi Jinping stressed that the two sides should implement the "Belt and Road" initiative and Saudi Arabia's "2030 Vision" docking, and promote cooperation between the two countries in various fields to achieve more results.
Crown Prince Mohammed said the Saudi side looks forward to increasing mutual support with China and working together to raise the Saudi-Chinese comprehensive strategic partnership to a higher level, believing that President Xi Jinping's visit will become an important milestone in the history of Saudi-Chinese relations.
Xi Jinping met with Saudi Arabia's King Salman at the Royal Palace in Riyadh on the afternoon of Dec. 8. Xi Jinping noted that he was glad to visit Saudi Arabia again after six years, and that he has vivid memories of his last visit to Saudi Arabia. President Xi Jinping is glad to see that the important consensus we reached on the development of Sino-Saudi relations are being transformed into tangible cooperation results. China-Saudi Arabia cooperation has broad prospects. China regards Saudi Arabia as an important force in the multipolar world and attaches great importance to the development of a comprehensive strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia.
King Salman said he warmly welcomed President Xi Jinping to visit Saudi Arabia again, and Xi Jinping's successful visit to Saudi Arabia in 2016 was unforgettable. In recent years, Saudi Arabia and China have made good progress in strategic docking and cooperation in various fields. King Salman attach great importance to the development of relations with China and am ready to work with President Xi Jinping to promote the continuous development of the Saudi-Chinese comprehensive strategic partnership.
A Series of Important Achievements
On the 8th, the two heads of state personally signed the Agreement on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the People's Republic of China and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, agreeing to hold a meeting between the heads of state in both countries alternately every two years.
China and Saudi Arabia agreed to raise the level of head of the Sino-Saudi High-Level Joint Committee to that of prime minister. The committee was established in 2016.
The two leaders jointly attended a ceremony to exchange texts of cooperation documents in the fields of "One Belt, One Road", judicial, education, hydrogen energy, investment and housing.
The two sides issued the Joint Declaration of the People's Republic of China and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
During the meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed, President Xi Jinping also announced that China has agreed to include Saudi Arabia as a destination country for outbound tourism groups of Chinese citizens and to expand people-to-people exchanges and humanistic exchanges between the two sides.
Last edited:
