Now, Washington and Riyadh seem intent on moving forward, and at moment when China is at least dabbling in a more assertive Middle East diplomacy. More recently, after the OPEC+ oil cartel announced in October it was cutting production, Biden promised “consequences” for a move that the administration said was helping Russia. He spoke after Boeing announced this week the Saudis would purchase up to 121 aircraft.īut China's involvement in facilitating a resumption of Iran-Saudi diplomatic ties and the major Boeing contract - one the White House said it advocated for - have added a new twist to Biden's roller-coaster relationship with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.Īlso Read | Changing dynamics of US nuclear alliancesĪs a candidate for the White House, Biden vowed that Saudi rulers would pay a 'price” under his watch for the 2018 killing of US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the kingdom's leadership.

'We're looking forward here in trying to make sure that this strategic partnership really does in every possible way support our national security interests there in the region and around the world,' White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said of the US-Saudi relationship. The White House scoffs at the idea that the big aircraft deal signals a significant change in the status of the administration's relations with Riyadh after Biden's fierce criticism early in his presidency of the Saudis' human rights record and of the Saudi-led OPEC+ oil cartel move to cut production last year. And they raised questions about whether the US-Saudi relationship - frosty for much of the first two years of President Joe Biden's term - has reached a détente.Īlso Read | Iran-Saudi Arabia deal reflects US’s weakening grip on West Asiaīut as the Biden administration takes stock of the moment, officials are pushing back against the notion that the developments amount to a shift in the dynamics of the US-China competition in the Middle East. They also cast China in an unfamiliar leading role in Middle Eastern politics. The two announcements spurred speculation that the Saudis were laying their marker as a dominant economic and geopolitical force with the flexibility to play Beijing and Washington off each other. In a matter of days, Saudi Arabia carried out blockbuster agreements with the world's two leading powers, signing a Chinese-facilitated deal aimed at restoring diplomatic ties with its arch-nemesis Iran and announcing a massive contract to buy commercial planes from US manufacturer Boeing.

Pocket planes