Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, who wrapped up his three-day visit to the Kingdom on Thursday, sought to bolster the Chinese presence in the Middle East. This new initiative, which calls for fostering political and commercial relations with its Middle East allies including Saudi Arabia, a key Arab state, figured prominently during the talks between Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi here Wednesday night.

Yang said after the talks in Riyadh that Beijing would continue to support Arab states in dealing with the regional challenges, and would continue to call on the international community to pay due attention to the severe difficulties and crises in developing countries, including African and Arab states.

He said that he also talked about climate change issues with officials of the Kingdom besides important subjects, like the Middle East peace process, Iran and the UN reforms.

The king received the Chinese minister at his Janadriya ranch. Yang conveyed to the king the greetings of Chinese President Hu Jintao. After the talks, the minister said that his visit to the Kingdom achieved the goal of promoting mutual trust, expanding cooperation and deepening understanding. Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal, Saudi Ambassador to China Yahya Al-Zaid and Chinese Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Yang Honglin also attended the talks.

Referring to the talks with high-ranking Saudi officials, Yang said: “China and Saudi Arabia or Arab states have common aspirations to learn from each other, cope with challenges and create a win-win situation. China is willing to work with Arab states to step up communication and coordination so as to push forward China-Arab cooperation in various fields and build a new partnership for peace and sustainable development.” But it was not immediately known whether Yang also discussed the subject of sea piracy and his country’s plan to send some naval guards or set up a naval base in the Gulf of Aden with the Arab and African countries he visited during the last 10 days. Several reports carried by Chinese and international media say that Beijing is mulling a proposal to establish a permanent naval base in the Gulf of Aden “to support its regional anti-piracy mission.”

The reports said that such a naval presence would allow China to better support its vessels while strengthening “its contribution to the anti-piracy mission” on a global level. To this end, it is important to note that China has also taken over from Saudi Arabia the lease of a giant crude oil storage facility in the Caribbean that gives Beijing unprecedented access to fuel and oil markets in the Americas including the US and Canada, said the reports. In fact, the Kingdom’s abandonment of the storage was on the cards after Riyadh was offered virtually free storage for crude oil in Japan.

On commercial front, Riyadh and Beijing have forged closer ties. In fact, Saudi Arabia consolidated its place as China’s top crude oil supplier in 2007. Riyadh is now likely to pull further ahead, as its oil exports to Beijing exceeded 40 million barrels in 2009. The Kingdom has emerged as the largest supplier of crude to China. The total trade including oil exceeded $ 41 billion last year, while China, ranked as the largest exporting nation globally, plans to boost trade further with Riyadh.