Saudi Arabia: Crown Prince Salman meets China’s foreign minister

On 25 December, Crown Prince Salman received China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, for talks. Attending on the Saudi side were deputy foreign minister Prince Abdelaziz Bin Abdullah and chief of the crown prince’s court Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. Irish prime minister (Taoiseach) Enda Kenny was in Riyadh in early January for meetings with Crown Prince Salman. Kenny and his jobs and enterprise minister Richard Bruton were on a five-day tour of the Gulf, leading a trade and investment mission due to take in Doha, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. On 5 January, the crown prince, who is also minister of defence, met the commander of US Central Command, General Lloyd Austin, to discuss expanding Saudi-US military co-operation.