{"id":33024,"date":"2019-02-24T03:26:54","date_gmt":"2019-02-24T03:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=33024"},"modified":"2019-02-24T03:26:54","modified_gmt":"2019-02-24T03:26:54","slug":"saudi-crown-prince-defends-chinas-right-to-fight-terrorism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=33024","title":{"rendered":"Saudi crown prince defends China’s right to fight ‘terrorism’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman<\/span> (MBS<\/a>) has supported China<\/a>‘s right to undertake “anti-terrorism” and “de-extremism” measures, according to Chinese state media, in remarks activists lambasted as a defence of Beijing’s crackdown on its Uighur<\/a> Muslim minority.<\/p>\n

Prince Mohammed made the comments to Chinese President Xi Jinping<\/a> on Friday during a visit to Beijing<\/a>, the last leg of an Asian tour that included Pakistan and India, according to state-run news outlets.<\/p>\n

In his talks with Xi, MBS hailed relations with China as trouble free, the official Xinhua news agency reported, while Xi urged joint efforts to counter extremism and terror.<\/p>\n

Xi told the crown prince the two countries must strengthen international cooperation on de-radicalisation to “prevent the infiltration and spread of extremist thinking”, according to Xinhua<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia<\/a> respected and supported China’s right to protect its own security and take counter-terror and de-radicalisation steps, the crown prince told Xi, according to the same report, and was willing to increase cooperation.<\/p>\n

“China has the right to take anti-terrorism and de-extremism measures to safeguard national security,” MBS told Xi, according to the state-owned CCTV.<\/p>\n

“Saudi Arabia respects and supports it and is willing to strengthen cooperation with China,” he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Disgusting’\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Riyadh has remained silent over China’s treatment of Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities in the far-western region of Xinjiang. That’s despite the ruling Al Saud family’s image of itself as the defender of Muslims across the world and protector of Islam’s two holiest shrines.<\/p>\n

Up to one million Uighurs and other minorities are being held in internment camps in Xinjiang as part of a draconian anti-terror and anti-separatist campaign, according to estimates cited by a UN panel.<\/p>\n

Activists slammed MBS’ stand, with Miqdaad Versi, spokesperson for Britain’s Muslim Council, calling the remarks “disgusting” and a defence of “the use of concentration camps against Uighur Muslims”.<\/p>\n

The World Uyghur Congress, a Germany-based advocacy group, said MBS’s failure to raise the issue of the Uighur detentions amounted to tacit support for “China’s gross rights violations”.<\/p>\n

\n

Truly disgusting from British ally, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, MBS – defending the use of concentration camps against Uighur Muslims: <\/p>\n

“China has the right to carry out anti-terrorism and de-extremization work for its national security”https:\/\/t.co\/gWi8Xwe3Q6<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Miqdaad Versi (@miqdaad) February 22, 2019<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman<\/span> not only failed to raise the over one million Uyghur Muslims arbitrarily detained in political indoctrination camps, but has tacitly supported China’s gross rights violations. https:\/\/t.co\/mSHssjIQhH<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 WorldUyghurCongress (@UyghurCongress) February 22, 2019<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Saudi crown prince’s visit came five months after the crown prince came under intense pressure in the US and elsewhere following the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi<\/a> at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. In the US Congress, criticism has also been building for months over the kingdom’s handling of the war in Yemen<\/a>, where it is accused of causing widespread casualties and suffering among civilians.<\/p>\n

China has refrained from faulting Saudi Arabia over issues such as the war or killing of the journalist, in keeping with its long-held tradition of non-interference in other countries’ affairs.<\/p>\n

The hush-hush approach reflects how China and Saudi Arabia have grown close over the past decade based on complementary economic interests, said Michael Clarke of Australian National University’s National Security College.<\/p>\n

“Basically, in the Saudi case there seem to be very clear incentives for it to not rock the boat in service of the Uighur issue,” Clarke told The Associated Press news agency.<\/p>\n

During MBS’ visit to China, Riyadh’s national oil giant Saudi Aramco said it had signed an agreement to form a Saudi-Chinese joint venture, worth more than $10bn, to develop a refining and petrochemical complex in northeastern Liaoning province.<\/p>\n

The Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority also announced the signing of 35 non-binding memorandums of understanding, worth $28bn, including deals related to energy, mining, transportation and e-commerce.<\/p>\n

China is Saudi Arabia’s largest trading partner.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\n SOURCE:
\n Al Jazeera and news agencies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) has supported China’s right to undertake “anti-terrorism” and “de-extremism” measures, according to Chinese state media, in remarks activists lambasted as a defence of Beijing’s crackdown on its Uighur Muslim minority. Prince Mohammed made the comments to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday during a visit to Beijing, the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":33025,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}