BFF-30 Saudi crown prince to visit China

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CHINA-SAUDI-ARABIA-DIPLOMACY

Saudi crown prince to visit China

BEIJING, Feb 15, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
will visit China next week, Beijing’s foreign ministry said on Friday, as
part of a swing through Asia in which the monarch is expected to sign an
investment package with cash-strapped Pakistan.

The Saudi Arabian leader, who has come under suspicion over an alleged
role in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, will visit next Thursday
and Friday and will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Vice Premier
Han Zheng.

The visit will seek to “promote the greater development of Sino-Saudi
relations” and “deepen cooperation” on China’s “Belt and Road” economic and
trade diplomacy initiative, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a
daily press briefing.

The trip comes as the world’s top crude exporter has been investing
heavily in refinery and petrochemicals projects across the globe to secure
long-term buyers of its oil.

He will also make stops in Pakistan, India, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The crown prince visits Pakistan over the weekend, with the two countries
reportedly planning to sign a number of agreements.

These include deals for a $10 billion oil and refining complex in
Pakistan’s strategic port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea.

Gwadar figures prominently in plans for the massive multi-billion dollar
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a collection of infrastructure projects
seen as a key plank in the Belt and Road initiative.

The Chinese-led initiative involves investments worth some $60 billion in
projects in a range of countries.

The crown prince’s travels take place against the backdrop of the
diplomatic crisis triggered by the brutal murder in Turkey of Saudi
journalist Khashoggi.

The dissident journalist was dismembered after his murder October 2 in the
Saudi consulate in Istanbul but his remains have yet to be found.

The heir apparent to the Gulf kingdom’s continues to be tarnished by his
alleged links to Khashoggi’s death amid new revelations he spoke of going
after the writer “with a bullet”.

BSS/AFP/BZC/1940HRS