Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry also confirmed Xi’s visit, at the invitation of King Salman. “The two summits will discuss ways to enhance joint relations in all fields, and discuss prospects for economic and development cooperation,” it said.

The official Saudi Press Agency said the trip “represents keenness of the leaderships of the two countries to strengthen bilateral relations and their strategic partnership and to invest their political and economic potential in serving their common interests”.

President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi will attend the China-Arab summit, according to Egyptian media, while Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and his Bahraini counterpart Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani have already arrived in Riyadh.

Since his last visit to the Middle East, Xi met the Saudi Prime Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Beijing in 2019.

China is aiming to boost cooperation with the Middle East on all fronts – from trade and energy to defence – as US influence in the region diminishes because of Washington’s “pivot to Asia” and the fallout of its withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The Chinese foreign ministry last week released a paper hailing the mutual trust between China and the Arab countries over recent decades. It described their challenges as “similar” and called for a “deepening of strategic cooperation” and opposition to “hegemony”.

The report laid out the prospects for the continued building of all-round cooperation, including through China’s signature Belt and Road Initiative and energy supplies.

According to a Fudan University report, the Middle East was the main beneficiary of belt and road investment in the first half of 2022. China also recently signed a landmark US$60 billion agreement to buy liquefied natural gas from Qatar and is partnering with the United Arab Emirates to send a probe to the moon.

While Xi seeks to further boost ties with Middle East nations including Saudi Arabia, Washington’s relations with Riyadh have been strained since the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

A visit by US President Joe Biden earlier this year was seen as an unproductive attempt to reset ties with Riyadh, which have been worsened by their most recent dispute over the Opec+ decision to cut oil output by 2 million barrels a day.

As US Congress called for a one-year suspension of arms sales to Saudi Arabia in retaliation, reports emerged that Riyadh had agreed to by US$4 billion worth of Chinese weapons at last month’s Zhuhai air show in southern China.

Wang Jin, associate professor at the Middle East Institute of China’s Northwest University, said Xi’s visit is “crucially important in diplomatic and political terms”.

“It facilitates the relationship between China and Saudi Arabia, one of the most important countries – the country with leading power – in the Arabian world,” he said.

“On another level, this visit probably means China and Arab countries are going to sign a series of cooperative agreements,” Wang said.

“These cooperative intentions and agreements are likely to shape the prospects of cooperation between China and Arab countries in the future, further promoting friendly relations between China and Arab countries in various fields.”

Additional reporting by Liu Zhenzhen