Saudi Arabia readies full state pageantry for Xi Jinping visit

Chinese president's three-day trip to Riyadh will lead to a strategic agreement' between the authoritarian powers

Xi Jinping will arrive in Riyadh on Wednesday on a long awaited visit to a regional ally that has readied full state pageantry and a round of agreements likely to cement ties between China and Saudi Arabia - and deepen alarm in Washington.

China's president will meet more than 30 heads of state and business leaders during his three-day visit to the Saudi capital, which is set to lead to a strategic agreement" between the authoritarian powers. The trip is the culmination of decades of cooperation once based on oil sales, which has grown into bilateral trade of close to $90bn a year.