Saudi Arabia is considering China’s proposal to build a nuclear power plant in this country

Pak Sahafat – The American newspaper “Wall Street Journal” announced in a report that Saudi Arabia is considering China‘s proposal to build a nuclear power plant in the country with the aim of putting pressure on the American government.

According to the report of Pak Sahafat International News Agency, the “Wall Street Journal” reported on Friday (August 25) in a report that Saudi Arabia is considering China’s proposal to build a nuclear power plant in this country.

The website of the “Russia Allium” network quoted this American media and wrote: Saudi officials informed in this regard said that the China National Nuclear Corporation, a state-owned company known as “CNNC”, proposed to build a nuclear power plant in the Al-Sharqiya region, near the borders of Qatar and the UAE.

The report comes as Saudi Arabia has previously asked the United States for cooperation in building a civilian nuclear program on its soil as part of a possible normalization deal with Israel.

US officials have said in the past that they will only share nuclear energy technology with Saudi Arabia if the agreement prohibits the process of enriching uranium or reprocessing plutonium produced in reactors, two ways to build nuclear weapons.

The American newspaper further wrote that Saudi officials have admitted that discussing this issue with China is a way to persuade the administration of US President Joe Biden to waive the requirements of nuclear non-proliferation.

The Wall Street Journal report further states: Saudi officials have said they prefer to hire Korea Electric Company (015760.KS), which is affiliated with the government in South Korea, to build the power plant’s reactors; the decision is intended to involve US operational expertise in the field, without agreeing to the non-proliferation controls that Washington generally calls for.

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The Saudi energy minister called oil the reason for his country’s approach to developing relations with China

This American media announced that the Saudi authorities said that “Mohammed bin Salman”, the crown prince of this country, is ready to work with this Chinese company soon if the negotiations with the United States fail.

The Wall Street Journal, quoting sources in the Chinese Foreign Ministry, also wrote: Beijing will continue to cooperate with Riyadh in the field of civilian nuclear energy, while at the same time adhering to international laws to prevent nuclear proliferation.

The talks between Beijing and Riyadh come as Israel’s energy minister recently expressed his opposition to Saudi Arabia’s request to develop a civilian nuclear program as part of any US effort to establish closer ties between Tel Aviv and Saudi Arabia.

In this regard, the officials of the occupying regime noted that “We expect Washington to consult with Tel Aviv about the US-Saudi agreement that affects Israel’s national security.” While the world’s general belief is that Israel, as a party that is not a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and does not have nuclear energy has nuclear weapons.

Instead of America, Saudi Arabia made its relations closer to China last year; In March, China mediated talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran to resume relations, which were successful.

In addition to close political positions, Beijing and Riyadh also have extensive commercial relations in the field of energy. In the situation that China is the largest importer of crude oil in the world and Saudi Arabia is also the largest exporter.

Even now, the state-owned Chinese Energy Engineering Company is building a 2.6 GW solar power plant in the Al-Shoeiba region of Saudi Arabia in cooperation with the Saudi electricity company ACWA Power; the plan is said to be the largest solar project in the region.

Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Saudi Arabia in December last year and met with its officials; An event that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China described as “a turning point in the history of the development of relations between China and Arab countries”.