Can America, which has been weakened in Asia amid the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia, now lose the support of Saudi Arabia? The question has been arising after a media report said that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is considering adopting a foreign policy closer to Russia and China. According to the report of the Wall Street Journal, Saudi Arabia is getting advice from America on the issue of human rights. Apart from this, Joe Biden has not met with the Saudi leadership since coming to power. Saudi Arabia sees this as ignoring itself.
In February last year, the US imposed sanctions on more than a dozen Saudi nationals accused of involvement in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. According to the report, the Saudi Crown Prince met with his father King Salman to discuss what to do in response to the steps taken by the US. Many senior government officials were present during this. In this discussion it was said that some political prisoners should be released so that the Biden administration could be happy. But MBS i.e. Mohammed bin Salman had a different opinion. He said that America should be pressurized by knowing close to Russia and China.
At the moment it is not clear whether the US has been warned about the relationship by Mohammed bin Salman, but it is clear that Saudi Arabia has strengthened its ties with China in the past year. Saudi Arabia and China have come very close in terms of military, cultural and economic ties. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s embassy in the US has said that there is no tension between the relations between the two countries. “We have contacts at the level of officials and institutions and we remain close on issues,” the Saudi embassy said. However, the government of Saudi Arabia wants the US to go ahead and take action in the case of missile attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.