Saudi Arabia has announced that it has joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Saudi Arabia’s cabinet on Wednesday approved joining the SCO. In such a situation, after the deal with Iran, Saudi Arabia has taken another such step, which is going to strengthen its relations with China. That too when America has expressed security concern regarding the new policy of Saudi Arabia. The announcement of Saudi Arabia joining the SCO comes at a time when Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke to the Saudi Prince on Tuesday.
Earlier, during his visit in December last year, the Chinese President had held talks with the Saudi Prince about joining the SCO. Saudi Arabia’s press agency reported that Saudi Arabia has approved to become a dialogue partner in the SCO.
China is trying to pit the SCO against NATO, which also includes Russia, Iran, India and Pakistan. SCO was established in the year 2001 by Russia and China. Later India and Pakistan were included in it.
SCO was founded by China and Russia to reduce the influence of western countries. Last year, Iran signed a document on full membership of the SCO. The dialogue partners are considered the first step towards joining the SCO. After this the concerned country is given full membership. The announcement of joining the SCO comes after Saudi Arabia’s state oil company Aramco signed a $1 billion investment deal with China.
Saudi company is going to buy stake in Chinese company. The growing ties between Saudi Arabia and China have raised eyebrows in its traditional ally America. America has said that China is trying to create influence in the world but this is not going to change our policy in the Middle East.