Chinese President Xi Jinping pledges to back further efforts to mend relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran
Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged to support further efforts to rebuild relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia during a phone conversation with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Xi told the prince, who is also the country's prime minister, that relations between Beijing and Riyadh were in their "best period in history" and said China would work to promote "peace, stability and development" in the Middle East.
Earlier this month China helped broker an agreement between the Saudis and Iranians to normalise their relationship after years of tension.
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China's state news agency Xinhua reported that Xi told the prince: "China is ready to continue to support the follow-up process of the Saudi-Iranian dialogue.
"I hope that the Saudi and Iranian sides will uphold the spirit of good neighbourliness and continue to improve relations on the basis of the outcome of the dialogue in Beijing."
Xi also sent Ramadan greetings to King Salman during the phone call.
Prince Mohammed expressed Saudi Arabia's appreciation for the Chinese initiative, according to the Saudi Press Agency, which also reported that the Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers were planning to meet during the Islamic holy month.
China's influence in Saudi Arabia has been steadily growing and Xi visited the country late last year for summits with the Arab League and Gulf Cooperation Council.
China has been Saudi Arabia's biggest trading partner since 2018, overtaking the European Union, and trade between the two countries reached US$87.3 billion last year, according to the Chinese embassy in Riyadh.
Crude oil accounted for 77 per cent of China's imports from the kingdom, while Saudi Arabia was the main destination for investment under Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative last year, according to the Shanghai-based Green Finance and Development Centre.
Meanwhile, Saudi Aramco, a state-owned energy company, has signed a US$10 billion deal to build a state-of-the-art refining complex in the northeastern Chinese province of Liaoning.
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2023 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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