Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Beijing
Like all embassies the purpose of the embassy of Saudi Arabia, located at Chancery: No. 1, Bei Xiao Jie, San Li Tun, is to represents the interests of the Saudi government in China. The most high profile way that it does this is through the ambassador who discusses issues on behalf of his government with the Chinese government, however most of the work of the embassy is more mundane. The bulk of the work performed by the embassy is to help Saudi visitors who have run into difficulties like a lost passport or legal troubles in China. They also spend a large amount of their time processing visas and other paperwork for Chinese citizens who want to travel to Saudi Arabia. One of the most valuable services performed by the embassy is to promote Saudi Arabia as a destination for both business and tourists. The embassy puts a considerable amount of effort into selling the benefits of Saudi Arabia in the hopes of attracting Chinese money to the country.
Saudi Arabia is a large desert country located on the Arabian peninsula where Africa and Asia meet. The country is ruled by a king and is one of the worlds few theocracies, that is a country that is run on religious grounds. Saudi Arabia has an Islamic government and strictly enforces the tenets of Islam with laws that most other countries would find odd. This has tended to put the country at odds with most other countries, however her oil reserves have tended to prevent any real difficulties for the country, Saudi Arabia is one of the most stable countries in the middle east.
Saudi Arabia is sitting on what are believed to be the worlds largest oil reserves and this has made the country one of the richest in the world. The money that has come in has been used to fund a number of social programs that give Saudi's a very high standard of living. There are however a large number of immigrants from third world countries who have come to perform most of the low skill jobs in the country who have a very low standard of living. Like all countries that rely on one commodity for the bulk of their income Saudi Arabia is very sensitive to changes in oil prices, and struggle to pay for their social programs when oil prices are low. There is also concern over what is going to happen when the oil runs out.
Relations between China and Saudi Arabia are fairly good, despite only having established diplomatic relations twenty years ago. The government of China know that having access to oil is critical to their continued
economic growth and have gone to great lengths to ensure they are on good terms with countries that have large reserves of oil. Saudi Arabia is largely under the influence of the United States who maintain a large presence there
for the same reason so this may cause tension in the future but for now China and Saudi Arabia are on good terms. China has learned to deal with Saudi Arabian business conduct, and that's turning out quite
profitable for the Chinese government and their businesses.