‘Saudi priorities’ steering science and tech cooperation with China, report says

Name: Saudi Arabia signs Huawei deal during Chinese leader Xi’s visit despite US security concerns
Uploaded: 2023-08-03T09:57:50.000Z
Duration: 1 min 30 s
Description: Saudi Arabia signs Huawei deal during Chinese leader Xi’s visit despite US security concerns

Nations are working together more but it is born out of Saudi Arabia’s push to boost its technology sector, according to Washington think tank

Despite the growing ties with China there is a strong preference among Saudi elites to work with the West on science and tech, it says

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Chinese President Xi Jinping meets Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh in December. Photo: Saudi Press Agency via AP

Sylvie Zhuangin Beijing

Published: 5:57pm, 3 Aug 2023

Growing science and tech cooperation between Saudi Arabia and China is being driven by “Saudi priorities”, according to a new report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“Saudi Arabia’s cooperation with China on technological and scientific innovation is on the rise – and it is Saudi priorities that are steering the relationship,” the Washington-based think tank said in the report released on Tuesday.

It said China and Saudi Arabia – the richest of the Gulf nations and a long-term US strategic partner – had increasingly been working together on tech in recent years as Beijing channels its global ambitions into the Middle East in rivalry with Washington.

Those ambitions saw Beijing broker a deal in March between Saudi Arabia and Iran to restore ties, seven years after they were severed. It was announced soon after Chinese President Xi Jinping made a state visit to Saudi Arabia and signed over 30 deals including for investments in technology.

But according to the think tank, the increasing tech cooperation between the two countries is born out of Saudi Arabia’s push to boost its technology sector, and it said China served as an actor for Saudi Arabia to realise its national priorities.

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Saudi Arabia signs Huawei deal during Chinese leader Xi’s visit despite US security concerns

Saudi Arabia has long sought to position itself as a global science leader as it accumulated huge wealth through its oil, the report said, pointing to its Vision 2030 project launched in 2016 to diversify away from oil.