As China’s relations with the US continue to worsen, Beijing is looking to cement ties with allies in the Middle East – one Mandarin class at a time.

Last month, Saudi Arabia made it compulsory for Mandarin lessons to be taught to secondary class students in public and private secondary schools, the Saudi Gazette news portal reported. This means students coming for the new academic session, which started on August 13 will have to learn Mandarin.

To start with, Saudi second graders will take Mandarin lessons two classes a week, assisted by a Chinese-speaking facilitator.

The decision comes on the back of an agreement, which Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman signed with Chinese authorities in 2019 to promote the use of Mandarin in the oil-rich kingdom.

China is Saudi Arabia’s biggest buyer of oil, while the Arab nation, the Middle East’s economic powerhouse, depends significantly on its growing trade ties with Beijing as it aims to diversify the economy away from petroleum.

Mandarin Chinese is spoken by more than a billion people around the world. It is seen as a language of the future, largely due to China’s position in the global economy.

Saudi Arabia is not the only country to incorporate the language in its school curriculum.

In the wake of growing trade and tech war between the US and China, several countries, some of them in Europe, have been reluctant to facilitate state-funded Chinese language centres.

It’s no surprise that China has shifted focus to strengthening ties with its Middle East partners.

In the UAE, Mandarin has already been introduced as a third language after Arabic and English in public schools.

In 2020, Egypt introduced a programme to allow primary and secondary school students to choose Mandarin as a second foreign language for their elective courses.

Iran has also introduced a law enabling the teaching of the Chinese language in middle and high schools.