Saudi Arabia and China reaffirmed their cooperation in the global oil market and the principle of non-interference in domestic affairs during a visit aimed at deepening strategic ties, at a time when ties between Washington and Riyadh appear increasingly strained, Al Jazeera reports .

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman signed a number of strategic agreements, including one involving the Chinese technology giant Huawei.

In a joint statement on Friday, the two sides said they “exchanged views on ways to strengthen and develop the comprehensive strategic partnership between the Kingdom and China.”

He emphasized the principles of sovereignty and “non-interference”, while confirming the importance of a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine.

In a sign of concern over security concerns in the Persian Gulf over Iran, another oil supplier to China and with which Beijing has good relations, they agreed on the need to “strengthen joint cooperation to ensure the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program” and that Tehran should respect “principles of good neighborliness”.

The Chinese leader said his visit, which will see him meet other Gulf oil producers and take part in a wider summit with Arab League nations on Friday, heralds a “new era” in relations.

The OPEC oil cartel, led by Saudi Arabia and its other allies including Russia, left its oil supply targets unchanged for the global economy on Sunday, despite uncertainty over the impact of new Western sanctions against Russia that could take significant volumes of oil off the market. Sunday’s decision came a day before two measures aimed at cutting off Russia’s oil revenues in response to its invasion of Ukraine take effect.

The US criticizes China and fears the position of Saudi Arabia

The United States is “aware” of China’s growing influence in the Middle East and believes it could affect “international order”, a White House spokesman said on Wednesday in the context of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Saudi Arabia, AFP reported.

“We are aware of the influence that China wants to have around the world. The Middle East is certainly one of the regions where they want to deepen this influence,” said John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council under President Joe Biden, quoted by Agerpres.

“We believe that many of their projects, as well as the way they are implemented, do not lead to the support of the international order,” he said in a discussion with journalists.

“We are not asking any country to choose between the United States and China, but as the president (Biden) has repeatedly said, we believe that the United States is well positioned to dominate this strategic competition,” he also stated.

John Kirby also said that the process of evaluating relations between Washington and Riyadh “continues”.