Jordan's King Abdullah met leading Chinese business executives in Shanghai, the royal palace said, on the second day of his trip to China focused on economic co-operation amid the Iran war.
King Abdullah told the Chinese executives that Jordan was committed to “deepening relations with China, and expanding economic and investment partnerships”, the palace said in a statement, without giving details. The king is scheduled to meet China's President Xi Jinping later in his trip.
The king also toured robotics manufacturer AgiBot's headquarters in Shanghai and was briefed on the company's products for industry, transport and security. He said it was important for AgiBot to co-operate with Jordanian universities on the “development of robotic applications and the exchange of expertise”.
It is King Abdullah's first trip to China since 2015. Jordan, a close US ally, as well as Gulf states have been targeted by Iranian attacks in the regional war that began in February. China has not publicly condemned the attacks by Iran or its proxies.
China accounts for one fifth of Jordan's imports, the biggest share of any country. The costs of those imports have increased sharply as a result of the increased risks and disruption to shipping between East Asia and the Middle East.
In an interview on Monday with the official Chinese news agency Xinhua, King Abdullah said the economic impact of the Iran war was “a reminder that we are all interconnected”. He called for “our regions to work together to establish better resilience … to respond to various disruptions.”
The Jordanian economy has been stagnant since the 2008 global financial crisis, and has taken another hit from the war this year. A large proportion of the kingdom's 10 million population are of Palestinian origin.
The king said Jordan is seeking “to co-ordinate with China as a key global player … and use its considerable influence and voice on the international stage” to realise the two-state solution to the Palestinian problem.
