Two prominent visits were paid last year to Saudi Arabia, which had — and will continue to have — a significant impact on the region and the world due to the host's and guests' importance. The first was US President Joe Biden's visit in mid-July; the second was Chinese President Xi Jinping's in December. During the two presidential visits to Jeddah and Riyadh, Arab bilateral and collective summits and meetings were held.
Al Majalla's editorial team had long discussions about the cover story of the print version this month. Ultimately, our choice landed on an interesting topic for Arab and international readers: Saudi Arabia and US-Chinese rivalry. This topic has many complex political, economic, and military factors. Experts and journalists with deep knowledge and expertise on the issue, examine the topic in great detail and from drifferent angles.
Hesham Alghannam, a Saudi expert in political science and international relations, writes about the new focus of Riyadh's foreign policies, developments in Washington, and initiatives coming from Beijing.
On his part, former US ambassador Robert Ford writes "candidly" about the influence of Washington and Beijing in the Gulf region where he still assures that "there is not yet serious rivalry between the United States and China for Saudi Arabia and the Gulf” and that “the relationship between the United States and this region has stood for decades. He does note, however that "Saudi Arabia sees stronger economic relations with China as important to its future."
Meanwhile, Chinese researcher Becky Chen explains her country's position and writes: "If we put Beijing's thinking and strategic vision, highlighted by President Xi's visit at the head of a large delegation to Saudi Arabia at the end of 2022, in the Chinese-Arab context, we could see that the Kingdom's strategic position within the Arab world, as seen by China, has soared to a new level."
