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This is CBSI and the world I'm John Batsy with Mary Kisle, executive vice president,

Stevenson, cooperated former senior advisor to the Secretary of State. Mary Bridges two

worlds, the world of Washington and the high end of Capitol Hill and the world of Wall Street.

She was many years at the Wall Street Journal's editorial offices in Hong Kong. She knows

China and the rise of the miracle. Very well, also the decline in fall of Hong Kong after

the crushing by the mainland authoritarians. But now, a puzzle for me, Mary. Xi Jinping following

his successful unanimous choice as general secretary for life of the Chinese Communist Party

travels to Riyadh to sit with the shakes. And talk about, there's the puzzle, Mary. Is Xi Jinping

going to Saudi Arabia to say, I'm the new boss? We're the supreme ones. This is the rising

power we've arrived. We're number one. Is he going there hat in hand for oil?

Well, I think it's something in between, John. The CCP has been courting the Saudi

royal families since the 80s. And they established formal ties in the 90s. And this has been in

the slow, but steadily building relationship. And this is not the first time that Xi Jinping has

left China. Recall that he attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting in Uzbekistan.

Recently, he went to the G20 in Bali. This trip to Saudi Arabia was not simply a bilateral trip. He

also met with many heads of state of the Gulf as well as African nations. So there are a couple

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