Saudi Arabia carried out a cabinet reorganization on the 27th local time. King Salman issued a king's order, appointing Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (later referred to as Mohammed ) as prime minister. Middle East media generally believe that given the old king's age, it will be a matter of time before the new king ascends the throne, and this reorganization paves the way for the crown prince to take over the throne.
Mohamed is the eighth son of King Salman. In 2017, Salman defeated the opposition and promoted him as the crown prince, and since then he has gradually begun to take control of power. Saudi Arabia TV reported on the 27th that Salman's king's decree issued this time gave Mohammed the power to preside over the cabinet meeting. Meanwhile, Salman appointed his other son, Khalid, as Minister of Defense and Yusuf bin Abdullah as Minister of Education. The decree also shows that the positions of Foreign Minister Faisal , Finance Minister Mohamed Jadan and Investment Minister Falih remain unchanged. The King Order also pointed out that the cabinet meeting attended by King Salman is still chaired by him.
"The cabinet reorganization paved the way for the ascension of the throne of Saudi Arabia ." Al Jazeera commented. Some Middle Eastern media said that according to tradition, the Saudi Prime Minister is the king. Before this reorganization, Crown Prince Mohamed served as deputy prime minister and minister of national defense. After the reorganization, its position changed and mastered several of the country's most sensitive sectors - economy, defense and oil. Importantly, Mohammed is only "one step away" from reaching the highest position.
Saudi Arabia is the world's largest oil exporter and a major ally of the United States in the Middle East. King Salman, 86, became ruler in 2015 and has been hospitalized several times in the past two years and is in poor health. British media analysts said that the 37-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed is the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia. Since he became the crown prince, he has carefully created the ambitious Saudi "2030 Vision ", intending to carry out drastic reforms in the economy, society, culture, sports, entertainment and other aspects to fundamentally change Saudi Arabia.
Mohamed strives to guide the diversified development of the country's economy so that the Saudi economy no longer depends on oil. He has also taken several measures to change the country's tough image, such as in 2018, when Saudi Arabia allowed women to enter the sports field for the first time. This is another move by Saudi Arabia to further relax restrictions on women after the lifting of the ban on women driving. In addition, he also restricted the power of clergy, lifted the ban on commercial theaters, opened up the entry of foreign tourists, invited pop singers to hold concerts in Saudi Arabia and held heavyweight boxing competitions, etc.
However, Mohammed has also been controversial. For example, during the anti-corruption storm in Saudi Arabia in 2017, he detained about 200 people, including many senior royal personnel, and he was criticized by the outside world. In 2018, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, which put Mohamed into greater controversy and made Saudi relations with the United States and other Western allies very tense.
Mohamed pursues the "look eastward" strategy and constantly strengthens relations with Asia. In February 2019, he led a huge delegation to Asia. Saudi Arabia's Okaz once commented that from Pakistan , India, and then to China, the crown prince's Asian footprint is eye-catching. Saudi Arabia tried to "look eastward", which was a choice made out of realistic considerations.
Middle Eastern media said that from the deputy prime minister to the prime minister, the power of the crown prince has been expanded, which allows Mohammed to be more relaxed in implementing his policies, and Saudi Arabia may undergo greater changes in the future. However, some analysts believe that in terms of foreign relations, Mohammed's "look eastward" strategy may be suppressed. The United States will use human rights, democracy and religion as weapons to attack Saudi Arabia, and will even oppose the new government by supporting dissidents and opposition in Saudi Arabia. In mid-July this year, US President Biden visited Saudi Arabia and it was difficult to get what he wanted on the key issues of "finding oil", which shows the indifference between the two countries' relations.
University of International Business and Economics Middle East research scholar Zhu Zhaoyi http://www.Global Times " on the 428th, saying that Mohammed has great ambitions. Saudi Arabia under his leadership hopes to keep a certain distance from the United States and wants Saudi Arabia to play a greater role in the geopolitics of the Middle East. But for Saudi Arabia at present, the biggest problem is military independence. The military threat from Iran and Yemen and its own development plans make it inseparable from the United States. Therefore, Mohamed will not make a huge change in the fundamentals of Saudi Arabia's relations with the United States. He is trying to maintain a balance of trade, politics and diplomacy between the United States, Russia and China. ▲
Our newspaper’s special correspondent in Egypt Huang Peizhao Our newspaper’s reporter Liu Yang
