Pakistan welcomes President Xi Jinping’s successful visit to KSA

Islamabad: Pakistan has said welcomes the successful visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

“Pakistan has very good relations with both China and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We are strategic partners and there is a great deal of goodwill between Pakistan and these countries. We are happy to see whenever our friends engage with each other. So we welcome the visit of President Xi Jinping to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said at a news briefing here.

Earlier, China and Saudi Arabia showcased deepening ties with a series of strategic deals during a visit by President Xi Jinping, including one with tech giant Huawei, whose growing foray into the Gulf region has raised US security concerns.

King Salman signed a “comprehensive strategic partnership agreement” with Xi, who received a lavish welcome in a country forging new global partnerships beyond the West.

Xi s car was escorted to the King’s palace by members of the Saudi Royal Guard riding Arabian horses and carrying Chinese and Saudi flags.

The Chinese leader held talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, de facto ruler of the oil giant, who greeted him with a warm smile. The two stepped into a pavilion as a military band played the countries national anthems. Xi heralded “a new era” in Arab ties.

The display stood in stark contrast to the low-key welcome extended in July to U.S. President Joe Biden, with whom ties have been strained by Saudi energy policy.

A memorandum with China s Huawei Technologies, on cloud computing and building high-tech complexes in Saudi cities, was agreed despite U.S. concerns with Gulf allies over a possible security risk in using the Chinese firm s technology. Huawei has participated in building 5G networks in most Gulf states despite US concerns.

In an op-ed published in Saudi media, President Xi Jinping said he was on a “pioneering trip” to “open a new era of China s relations with the Arab world, the Arab countries of the Gulf, and Saudi Arabia”.

China and Arab countries would “continue to hold high the banner of non-interference in internal affairs, (and) firmly support each other in safeguarding sovereignty and territorial integrity”, he wrote.