Chinese Embassy celebrates 98th anniversary of People’s Liberation Army
Chinese Embassy celebrates 98th anniversary of People’s Liberation Army/node/2609411/saudi-arabia
Chinese Embassy celebrates 98th anniversary of People’s Liberation Army
1 / 4
Zhu Je, the armed defense attache at the Chinese embassy in Saudi Arabia gave the opening remarks commemorating the 98th anniversary of the Chinese Liberation Army. (Huda Bashatah)
2 / 4
Zhu Je, the armed defense attache at the Chinese embassy in Saudi Arabia gave the opening remarks commemorating the 98th anniversary of the Chinese Liberation Army. (Huda Bashatah)
3 / 4
Zhu Je, the armed defense attache at the Chinese embassy in Saudi Arabia gave the opening remarks commemorating the 98th anniversary of the Chinese Liberation Army. (Huda Bashatah)
4 / 4
Zhu Je, the armed defense attache at the Chinese embassy in Saudi Arabia gave the opening remarks commemorating the 98th anniversary of the Chinese Liberation Army. (Huda Bashatah)
Chinese Embassy celebrates 98th anniversary of People’s Liberation Army
Envoy hails 35 years of Sino-Saudi diplomatic ties, growing trade
China urges Gaza ceasefire and rejects ‘deportation’ of Palestinians
Updated 25 July 2025
Lama Alhamawi
RIYADH: The Chinese Embassy in Saudi Arabia hosted a reception on Thursday in Riyadh’s Cultural Palace to mark the 98th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army.
“The Chinese and Saudi people have a friendship and connection of more than 2,000 years,” said Zhu Je, the armed defense attache at the embassy.
He added that the two nations celebrated this week the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, which began on July 21, 1990.
In his opening remarks, Zhu highlighted the growing relations between the two nations. “China has become Saudi Arabia’s largest trading partner; Saudi Arabia is China’s largest trading partner in the Middle East,” he said.
President Xi Jinping and Saudi Arabia’s leaders have worked on developing a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership since 2022, Zhu said.
“In 2024, by instructions of the Saudi leaders, His Royal Highness Prince Khalid bin Salman visited China, Sino-Saudi military relationship was upgraded to strategic level.
“Chief of general staff, His Excellency Gen. Fayyadh Al-Ruwaili, led series of delegations to China, achieving solid results in multiple cooperation fields,” he said.
Zhu said the Chinese armed forces was created as a part of the country’s struggle for national unification and independence.
He said over the past 98 years, “led by the Chinese Communist Party and supported by the people, it has won more than 200 significant battles and defeated more than 10 million enemies.”
This had made a “great contribution to the independence, safety and development of the country, having become a strong force to deter aggression and threats.”
On the region, Zhu said China wants to play a constructive role in promoting peace and stability. “China calls for (an) immediate and sustained ceasefire in Gaza, opposes the deportation of the Gaza people.
“China, together with Saudi Arabia advocate that the Palestinian issue should be resolved comprehensively, justly and lastingly on the basis of the two-state solution,” he said.
There were several ambassadors and defense officials at the reception, including Chinese Ambassador Chang Hua, who hosted the event alongside Zhu.
Zhu added: “I would again express our sincere gratitude to the Saudi leaders and people, especially the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Interior, the National Guard and other security institutions.”
This year’s lineup features 30 publishers selected after extensive research by the Biennale team
Updated 11 sec ago
Jasmine Bager
DIRIYAH: Rows of art books, a DJ spinning records and an endless sea of colorful posters can mean only one thing — the second annual Paperback Art Book Fair is back at JAX District in Diriyah, running for three days and ending this Saturday.
Organized by the Diriyah Biennale Foundation, the now-annual event has become a fixture in its cultural calendar and will continue to take place during the first week of November each year.
Organized by the Diriyah Biennale Foundation, the now-annual event has become a fixture in its cultural calendar. (AN photo)
“Paperback happens at JAX — a very creative district that houses multiple creative tenants across the board, from artists to creative organizations, businesses, you name it,” Sybel Vazquez, director of public programs at the Biennale, told Arab News.
“Paperback is happening between the two biennales,” she said, referring to the Islamic Arts and Contemporary Art Biennales, which now open in January each year over the past half decade.
HIGHLIGHT
Two new book launches headline the event: ‘Raw, Print, Scripted Spaces’ by Jeddah-based architecture and design studio Bricklab, co-founded by brothers Abdulrahman and Turki Gazzaz, and ‘Dwelling Futures: Future of Gulf Housing’ by the UAE-based Sawalif Collective.
“We have a lot of contemporary artists who are self-published or work with books as a medium — there’s at least one artist that is in the biennale that actually also has a booth at Paperback.”
The second annual Paperback Art Book Fair is back at JAX District in Diriyah, running for three days and ending this Saturday. (AN photo)
Vazquez added that the fair is designed to encourage curiosity and creative experimentation.
“Paperback is also to nurture print culture. It is really a celebration of creative publishing,” she said.
Organized by the Diriyah Biennale Foundation, the now-annual event has become a fixture in its cultural calendar. (AN photo)
“The reason why Paperback exists is because we want to create a gathering for print culture … Paperback is intended to spark conversation, exchange and learning for what is still very nascent locally.”
When the first event debuted last year, the response far exceeded expectations.
“We had no idea if there would be a demand for art books,” she confessed — but her worries were unjustified.
“People came by the thousands. We ran out of books very quickly — too quickly,” Vazquez said. “It’s a good problem to have but nonetheless a problem because people kept coming in. There was nothing left.”
This year’s lineup features 30 publishers selected after extensive research by the Biennale team.
Three Saudi participants: Rawdah Print, Bin Atiah Studio and Misk Art Institute join international exhibitors from places such as Spain, Italy, Japan, the US, Egypt, Greece, China and Malaysia, among other countries.
Two new book launches headline the event: “Raw, Print, Scripted Spaces” by Jeddah-based architecture and design studio Bricklab, co-founded by brothers Abdulrahman and Turki Gazzaz, and “Dwelling Futures: Future of Gulf Housing” by the UAE-based Sawalif Collective.
Workshops during the three-day program include “Making Zines for Kids” and “Bookmaking: Pamphlets, Concertinas, Japanese Binding,” both by Saudi-based Creative Girls Club, as well as sessions led by other publishers.
Among the returning participants is “Reliable Copy,” a publishing house and curatorial practice founded in Bangalore, India, in 2018.
Sarasija Subramanian of “Reliable Copy” told Arab News that the atmosphere at Paperback stood out from larger fairs abroad.
“Last year was amazing,” she said. “This is very different from the other fairs that we’ve done because usually we do fairs in Europe and the USA, which are exponentially larger — like 200 publishers instead of 30. It’s a lot more warm and friendly because it’s smaller and easier to access.”
She added that the more intimate setting allows readers to interact one-on-one with publishers.
“Everything (for sale at their booth) is an artist’s book — everything is either by an artist or with an artist. But what the individual books are is a very wide range; there’s a cookbook, a bunch of photo books, some science fiction.”
“I think the general audience response is really, really great. Even last time, most of the publishers sold out— that’s not something you often experience,” she added.
Also returning is Shashasha, an online bookshop based in Tokyo that specializes in photobooks and artbooks. They came armed with just under 100 books last year and sold-out quickly, so they doubled their offerings this time around.
A Japanese graduate student — who had a badge adorned with the name-tag Keishin — told Arab News about his sophomore participation.
“Since last year, Shashasha has been invited to this event, and I was the only one studying Islam, so I was entrusted with this. I’m at an age where anything I experience is useful, so I’m enjoying it,” he said.
For Vazquez and the Biennale Foundation, the goal remains simple; to make books accessible, tactile and a catalyst for community.
“Print is not dead — print is back on Nov. 6-8!” she said.
