In February 2019, the controversial crown prince of Saudi Arabia-Muhammad bin Salman (often known as MBS)-traveled to China to meet with Chinese president Xi Jinping. The meeting took place during the height of increasing media attention on Beijing’s persecution of Uighur Muslims. According to Newsweek magazine, Saudi Arabia and China have engaged in over sixty-three billion dollars’ worth of trade deals just since 2018.

XREF: Connects to broader knowledge about China's Belt and Road strategy and how it courts authoritarian regimes amidst human rights controversies.

XREF: Connects to broader coverage of Gulf-Asia pivots and the geopolitics of China's Belt and Road outreach despite human-rights criticism.

Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Gl…, loc. 171