Pictured Above: President of China Xi Jinping with Iran's leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in 2016. Credit: Official Khamenei website via Wikimedia Commons.

(JNS) Ahead of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Beijing later this week, China’s foreign minister told his Iranian counterpart that Beijing looks to “deepen the strategic trust” with Tehran.

Wang Yi, meeting with Javad Zarif at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in the Chinese capital, praised Iran’s top diplomat for his speech on Sunday at the Munich Security Conference, where he accused Israel and the United States of “looking for war.”

“I saw on television how you defended the rights of Iran loud and clear at the Munich Security Conference,” said Wang. “I think an audience of hundreds of millions of Chinese also watched what you said, and you are a famous person now.”

“I would like to take this opportunity to have this in-depth strategic communication with my old friend to deepen the strategic trust between our two countries and to ensure fresh progress of the bilateral comprehensive and strategic partnership,” he added.

Zarif said, “Our relationship with China is very valuable to us. We consider the comprehensive strategic partnership between Iran and China as one of our most important relations.”

Saudi Arabia and Iran are adversaries, but China has “been trying to raise its profile, especially in the Arab world,” according to Reuters.

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