(Un)scripted Diplomacy?

In a new season of his popular Ramadan show Seen, Ahmad al-Shugairi asked a young Saudi boy in his Chinese language classroom why he was learning Chinese, rather than, say, Spanish. The boy quickly responded: “Because Saudi Arabia made an alliance with China!” The latest season of Seen clearly projects an emerging Saudi-China partnership, with one of the Arab world’s most beloved personalities promoting the cultural dialogue and soft power projection that has accompanied military and economic cooperation between the two countries.  

Ahmad al-Shugairi became a household name across the region with his mega-hit Khawater, an annual Ramadan educational television program that melded religion with entertainment and aired daily during the holy month from 2005 to 2015. He returned to the small screen in Ramadan 2021 with the show Seen which—while similar to Khawater—focuses on Saudi Arabia’s rapid transformation in light of Vision 2030.  

Seen has been mostly domestically focused in the past, but this year’s shows have an uncharacteristic emphasis on China. Some of this season’s 20 episodes are entirely filmed in the country: one outlines China’s rise from poverty into one of the most developed countries in the world; another looks at advanced technology, with al-Shugairi telling his viewers that he is going to take them to a country “where the future exists.” While the rest of the episodes are Saudi-focused, many feature segments on China within them. Frequently, al-Shugairi explicitly refers to China as a model for Saudi Arabia. 

Saudi-China ties seemed to reach an apex with Xi Jinping’s visit to Riyadh in December 2022, and some detect a cooling since then. Seen’s recent spotlight on China indicates not only that Saudi public interest in China remains strong, but that government interest remains strong, too.