, at the annual China Development Forum hosted in Beijing, by Aramco chief executive officer, Amin Nasser: “Ensuring the continuing security of China’s energy needs remains our highest priority - not just for the next five years but for the next 50 and beyond.
, had been struck back in 1945 at a meeting on 14 February 1945 between the then-U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Saudi King at the time, Abdulaziz. The first face-to-face contact between the two, this landmark meeting was held on board the U.S. Navy cruiser Quincy in the Great Bitter Lake segment of the Suez Canal, and the deal that they agreed – which had been the basis for all of the U.S.’s Middle East policy up until very recently - was this: the U.S.
It should be remembered that, at this point in 2017, MbS faced real threats at home to his ongoing rise to power, principally from the supporters of the previous King Abdullah and then-heir apparent, Muhammad bin Nayef, who had been appointed the Crown Prince in April 2015, only to be replaced by King Salman with MbS in June 2017.