China is fully exploiting the cooling of US-Saudi relations engineered by the Biden administration’s repeated public personal attacks on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) as well as perceived decreased support for the Saudi-led coalition’s efforts to blunt Iranian expansionism in Yemen.
China’s first summit with Arab state leaders in Saudi Arabia occurs at a propitious time for both Chinese President Xi Jinping and MBS. Xi is at the height of his power, having been approved in November by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee for an unprecedented third term as party General Secretary. MBS, already Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, was just appointed as the Prime Minister by his father, King Salman bin Abdulaziz.
