Despite Saudi Arabia being a key ally to the US in the region, the Kingdom has taken part in joint military exercises with China amid rising tensions as a result of both the Washington-Beijing trade war and also grappling in the South China Sea. Newsweek reported that the Chinese military announced Wednesday that it held the opening ceremony of the Blue Sword 2019 joint naval special forces exercise with Saudi Arabia, and the maneuvers would run three weeks at the King Faisal Naval Base.
China’s armed forces said that “the joint training aims to enhance the mutual trust and friendly relations between the two navies, strengthen the maritime combat capability of the participants, exchange experiences and improve the training level.”
This could be concerning for the US, but Saudi Arabia has had defence ties with China for decades with intermediate range missiles having already been purchased by Riyadh in deals with Beijing.
This comes after Russian President Putin attempted to sway Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman by offering the country Russian defence systems in the aftermath of the Saudi oil attack.
Mr Putin said in September: “It is enough to take a wise government decision, as the leaders of Iran did before, buying the S-300, and as President Erdogan did, buying the latest air defence system, S-400 Triumph.”
He added: “For the defence of one’s country, we are ready to provide help to Saudi Arabia.”
This came after the Saudi oil attack, when Iran launched two devastating strikes on Saudi Aramco oil plants in Abqaiq and Khurais.
READ MORE:Iran news: How Trump tensions could spark fresh Putin row
Iran has a strong relationship with China as things stand, with the Asian superpower being Tehran’s biggest trade partner.
Weapons deals have also already existed between the two, with Beijing supplying missile systems, jets and submarines.
With Mr Putin and President Xi Jinping appearing to force the US out of the Middle East picture, President Trump may never regain a foothold in the crisis stricken region.
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November 23, 2019 at 12:17AM
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