Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – Activists took to social media to announce Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Saudi Arabia today from Wednesday to Friday, December 9.
Activists have raised speculation about the messages and significance of this visit and compared what the Chinese president’s reception would have been like with the reception US President Joe Biden had during his visit to the Kingdom last July.
John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator at the National Security Council at the White House, stressed that the United States of America is not asking other countries to choose between them and China, commenting on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Saudi Arabia .
Kirby responded, in a telephone press conference, to the question of whether the Chinese president’s visit to Saudi Arabia is a direct challenge to US interests in the region, especially after statements by President Joe Biden that his country will not withdraw from the region and he will leave a vacuum filled by China or Russia, saying that “the foreign leaders. They, you know, travel the world and have bilateral relations.”
He added: “We have never asked any country to choose between the United States and China. So if our friends and partners in the Middle East want to meet with President Xi Jinping and talk to him about a number of issues, this is certainly their right.” and we respect that.”
