Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to China Abdulrahman Ahmad Al-Harbi gives his speech at the 95th Saudi National Day Celebration in Beijing on September 23, 2025. Photos: Courtesy of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in China

The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in China hosted the 95th Saudi National Day Celebration in Beijing on September 23. Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to China Abdulrahman Ahmad Al-Harbi and Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Bin participated in the event, highlighting friendship in their addresses. 

In his keynote speech, Ambassador Al-Harbi said that this year marks the 35th anniversary of the official establishment of the bilateral relations, and it also coincides with the Saudi-China Cultural Year, which was jointly set by the two countries. 

"Our bilateral ties are characterized by deep-rooted friendship, mutual trust, respect, and support, making them, today, a distinguished model of relations between nations," the ambassador said.  

Guided by the wise leadership of both countries and their unlimited support, the two nations' relations have witnessed continuous growth since their establishment, and an exceptional development in recent years across all fields, particularly since being elevated to the level of comprehensive strategic partnership that serves the shared interests of both nations across all sectors, especially within the framework of alignment between Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 and the Belt and Road Initiative, the ambassador said. 

"One of the finest aspects of our cooperation is the growing cultural interactions that we are witnessing today, embodied in the Saudi-China Cultural Year, which stands as a milestone in the development of our bilateral relations and a cornerstone in fostering mutual understanding between two ancient peoples with rich human heritages and profound cultural experience," the ambassador noted. 

Throughout this Cultural Year, we have witnessed a wealth of diverse cultural events and programs across various cities in both Saudi Arabia and China. These events have introduced our people to the deep-rooted civilizations and vibrant cultural diversity of our two nations, while also opening new opportunities to launch joint projects in culture, tourism, art, education, sports, and beyond, he introduced. 

"In doing so, culture has been placed at the very heart of the strategic cooperation between our countries, serving our shared interests. We reaffirm our commitment to continuing our diligent efforts and fruitful cooperation with our Chinese friends and partners, in order to further strengthen and elevate the distinguished relations between our two countries under the wise guidance of our leaderships," the ambassador said. 

Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Bin gives his remarks at the 95th Saudi National Day Celebration in Beijing on September 23, 2025.

In Liu's remarks, on behalf of the Chinese government, he extended holiday greetings and best wishes to Saudi friends.

"As a good partner, friend, and brother of Saudi Arabia, China is sincerely pleased with Saudi Arabia's progress and appreciates its efforts to promote peace and stability in the Middle East," he said. 

Over the 35 years, the two countries have consistently upheld mutual respect, trust, mutual benefit, and mutual learning, leading to the rapid and in-depth development of bilateral relations, Liu affirmed. 

"In recent years, under the strategic guidance of the heads of state in the two countries, the China-Saudi Arabia comprehensive strategic partnership has continued to deepen, the two countries' development strategies have become increasingly aligned, and practical cooperation in various fields has maintained strong growth momentum," Liu said, adding that people-to-people exchanges have flourished, writing a new chapter in the unity, cooperation, and mutual benefit of developing countries.

The friendship between China and Saudi Arabia has become deeper through exchanges and mutual learning.

China is willing to work with Saudi Arabia to take the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries as an opportunity to consolidate political mutual trust, deepen cooperation in various fields, and elevate the China-Saudi Arabia comprehensive strategic partnership to a higher level, he said, wishing the China-Saudi Arabia relations will continue to develop and the friendship between the two peoples will last forever.

Saudi students and Saudi traditional dancing group staged stunning cultural performances for the guests. 

The day before the grand celebration, Ambassador Al-Harbi shared his observations on the bilateral cultural and people-to-people exchanges in a group interview.

"I believe our cultural cooperation between Saudi Arabia and China goes far before the establishment of the diplomatic relations between the two countries. However, in recent years, especially after the upgrade of the bilateral relations between Saudi Arabia and China to become a comprehensive strategic partnership, which means there is cooperation in all fields including culture cooperation, we have witnessed massive, great, and excellent progress in recent years, especially after the latest and exceptional visit by President Xi Jinping to Saudi Arabia, we have seen a lot of initiatives, actions, and programs agreements that have taken place between both sides," the ambassador told the Global Times. 

"One of them is marking this year as the China-Saudi Arabia Year of Culture; we have also seen a couple of major initiatives that have contributed to the growth of bilateral relations. I think maybe I can just shed light to a few of them, just like the launch and opening of the King Abdulaziz Public Library branch at Peking University back in 2017. The library in China that serves China and the Eastern part of the world, also the approval of the Saudi Arabia as a group destination for group visits from China," he elaborated. 

Moreover, the ambassador introduced cooperation in the museum and education sectors.

The ambassador added that "We have also seen an important initiative implemented which is the teaching of the Chinese language in Saudi Arabia; we have included the Chinese language in our public schools and we have seen the exchanges of students and teachers from both sides."

Another initiative to support cultural exchanges is the Prince Mohammad bin Salman Award for Cultural Cooperation that was announced in 2024. This year marks the first year of the annual award, he added.

The award aims to honor researchers, artists, linguists, translators, and others in the cultural field from both China and Saudi Arabia for their contributions to bilateral cultural collaboration.

"We will see more and more of this kind of joint initiatives that support the introduction and increase the understanding of our culture aspects and diversity of both sides that supports people-to-people exchanges," the ambassador said.