Top US diplomat to visit Saudi Arabia this weekend following China trip
The top US diplomat is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia this weekend, diplomatic sources said on Tuesday.
Sources said Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who will travel to China this week, is expected to attend the World Economic Forum in Riyadh and may hold bilateral meetings on the sidelines.
Blinken is likely to meet Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, but it is still unclear whether he will meet Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Blinken is traveling to China this week, stopping in Shanghai and Beijing to discuss a range of issues, including the Gaza war, the Russia-Ukraine war, cross-Strait issues, and the South China Sea.
The State Department said he would also discuss counternarcotics cooperation, military-to-military communication, artificial intelligence and other topics. Washington has called on Beijing to help ease tensions in the Middle East, which it has yet to publicly do since Oct. 7. The US also asked China for help to pressure the Iran-backed Houthis to stop their attacks on merchant vessels in the Red Sea. US officials have also voiced concerns over Chinese companies helping Russia’s military industrial base circumvent sanctions.
Senior Biden administration officials were set to visit Saudi Arabia earlier this month, with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan leading the delegation before the trip was postponed at the last minute. Sullivan and other senior Biden administration officials were scheduled to leave for Jeddah and expected to meet MBS, but the White House said Sullivan had a minor accident that led to a cracked rib. The White House’s John Kirby told reporters that this impacted his ability to travel.
Washington has been pushing talks on normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel for months, but those negotiations were put on hold following the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the ensuing Israeli bombardment of Gaza.
Sources familiar with Sullivan’s travel plans downplayed any expectations for major announcements or breakthroughs at the time, with one saying this was going to be a meeting to check in with the US’s Saudi counterparts.
The only way Saudi Arabia will establish ties and recognize Israel is through a two-state solution, which includes Palestinian statehood, something Riyadh will not back down from, officials and diplomats familiar with Saudi thinking previously told Al Arabiya English.
Riyadh says that a Palestinian state remains the key to such an agreement. Just as crucial as the Palestinian state would be a treaty or security pact between Washington and Riyadh, as well as cooperation on Saudi Arabia’s civilian nuclear program.
In a noteworthy development in recent weeks, some American lawmakers who have traditionally opposed a two-state solution have been changing their stance behind closed doors. Nevertheless, Israel has repeatedly stated that it opposes granting Palestinians their own state, especially following the Oct. 7 attack. A vote brought forth in the Israeli parliament earlier this year also reaffirmed their rejection of a two-state solution to the decadeslong conflict.
