Since January 18, 2020, President Xi Jinping has not left the borders of China due to the coronavirus pandemic. But according to recent reports, he is now planning to venture abroad to visit Riyadh—a concrete sign of strengthening ties between the two countries. Some Saudis, seeing the U.S. desire to accommodate Iran and play a smaller role in the Middle East, hope that Beijing might prove a more reliable partner, and certainly one with fewer scruples about human rights. Such a move, argue Bernard Haykel and Mohammed Alyahya, would be harmful to both American and Saudi interests. In conversation with Michael Doran, they address the reasons for the Chinese temptation, as well as the broader state of U.S. policy in the region, the Abraham Accords, the Iranian threat, and much else. (Video, 52 minutes. A complete transcript is available at the link below.)
Read more on Hudson Institute: https://www.hudson.org/research/18098-transcript-saudi-arabia-s-china-option