Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia for Chinese leader Xi’s visit

By JON GAMBRELL
Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Gulf Arab leaders and others in the Mideast are meeting in Saudi Arabia as part of a state visit by Chinese leader Xi Jinping. They want to firm up their relations with Beijing as decades of U.S. attention on the region wanes. Representatives of the Gulf Cooperation Council met before a joint meeting Friday with Xi in a summit helmed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. That further signals his control of a kingdom still overseen by his father, the 86-year-old King Salman. Qatar’s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who has largely restored ties to its Arab neighbors after a yearslong boycott, was also at the summit.