Saleh Sagri, Saudi Arabia’s first cultural counselor at its embassy in China, told Global Times that young people in both countries should ‘seize the golden opportunities between Saudi Arabia and China’. He said student exchanges have broadened the foundation of bilateral ties.
Global Times published an interview conducted by reporter Xu Liuliu and Ma Yongliang, its special correspondent in Saudi Arabia. Sagri was invited to China in 2008 as the kingdom’s first cultural counselor at its embassy there; he is now retired but remains involved in cultural exchange, visits China often, and invites Chinese scholars, writers and intellectuals to Saudi Arabia.
광고 문의 · 300×250His interest in China began around 1988 while he was studying in Britain. Feeling that the Arab world had few scholars of China, the Far East and Southeast Asia, he threw himself into the field. The two countries established formal relations in 1990; he said economic and political ties came first, while cultural and educational cooperation was new ground.
Results of student exchange
According to Sagri, between 2008 and 2012 China took in about 1,200 Saudi students, and Saudi Arabia hosted more than 200 Chinese students. The early challenge was persuading Saudi families that studying in China had a future. Early graduates now work in investment, royal court affairs, universities, economic and social research, and Chinese-language teaching, and he said none regret their choice.
He said both societies place importance on family, and that Chinese social inclusiveness helped Saudi students adapt. He also noted long exchange between Chinese and Islamic civilizations in science, medicine, engineering and astronomy along the ancient Silk Road. Ties among ordinary people and between the two countries’ leaders are growing stronger, he added.
A message to the young
Sagri told young Saudis and Chinese to seize the ‘golden opportunities’ between the two countries in economics, diplomacy, academia and the arts. He said anyone who goes to China and studies a field in depth will find room to grow. These are Sagri’s personal views and should be distinguished from the formal positions of either government.
This paper did not review the full interview but summarized the main points of the Global Times report. Specifics such as tourism or language-education plans were not found in the article. The student figures are Sagri’s own account and were not checked against separate statistics.