Sino-Saudi political and economic ties have deepened over the past decade.

"Since the establishment of diplomatic ties, relations between China and Saudi Arabia have maintained robust growth," Chinese President Xi Jinping wrote in a signed article published on Thursday in the Saudi newspaper Al Riyadh. 

President Xi is attending the first China-Arab States Summit and the China-Gulf Cooperation Council Summit and paying a state visit to Saudi Arabia in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

"Most notably, China-Saudi Arabia cooperation has made major headway in the past 10 years," Xi noted in the article.

Saudi Arabia has become China's largest trading partner in the Middle East since 2001, and China has remained Saudi Arabia's largest trading partner since 2013. For example, in energy cooperation, Saudi Arabia is China's top global supplier of crude oil, and China is its largest crude oil customer.

In January 2016, China and Saudi Arabia announced the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership. It is one of the four comprehensive strategic partnerships China has established with Arab states.

China takes this visit as an opportunity to strengthen its comprehensive strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia, Xi wrote in the article.

In recent years, the cooperation has been progressing rapidly under the framework of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and the Saudi Vision 2030.

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Graphics: How is BRI bolstering China-Saudi Arabia ties?

Data editor: Zhao Hong; Graphics designer: Mukesh Mohanan