Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (R) shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the China-Arab Summit in the Saudi capital Riyadh, December 9, 2022 (AFP)

Saudi Arabia is aware that today's reality says that China "had taken lead" and will continue to do so, Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said, stressing that Riyadh aims for stronger cooperation with the Asian giant on trade and energy.

The minister emphasized that the kingdom eyes China's industrial complex that was able to get the "right manufacturers”, especially in the field of renewable energy.

“We came to recognize the reality of today that China is taking, had taken a lead, and will continue to take that lead. We don’t have to compete with China, we have to collaborate with China,” he told CNBC’s Dan Murphy during the Arab-China Business Conference on Sunday.

“We will never go again to this zero-sum game.”

Saudi Arabia accounted for 25% of the $432 billion in commerce between China and Arab nations last year, and the volume of trade between the two countries scored $106 billion in 2022, marking a 30% increase over 2021.

On energy trade with China, Abdulaziz said that Saudi Arabia sees China's oil demand rising in the future, something the OPEC giant is interested in fulfilling.

However, the energy minister stressed that working with China is not something that will prevent the kingdom from working with other countries. “This doesn’t mean we’re not going to collaborate with others,” he told the broadcaster, mentioning parties such as the United States, Europe, South Korea, Latin America, and Japan among others.

China is the world's largest oil importer and is currently the number one buyer of Saudi oil.

When asked about criticism targeting the growing Riyadh-Beijing relations, he responded: “I totally ignore it.” The kingdom “will go where opportunities come [its] way.”

“There is nothing political about it. There is nothing strategical about it.”

“We are Saudi Arabia, we don’t have to be engaged in what I call a zero-sum game. We believe that there are so many global opportunities.”

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