Chinese envoy Chen Weiqing looks forward to this year’s Riyadh Season

RIYADH: One of the many Kingdom’s residents who is looking forward to this year’s Riyadh Season is the Chinese Ambassador, Chen Weiqing. He tweeted his excitement for the — yet to be announced — events after the promo video by the president of the General Entertainment Authority, Turki Alalshikh. The video has received more than 20 million views since it was tweeted on October 10.
Ambassador Chen tweeted on Wednesday an interaction between Al-Sheikh and Egyptian singer Amr Diab, who performed in the 2019 Riyadh Season.
When the chairman of the GEA posted a clip of Frank Sinatra singing “My Way” the singer commented, “You have exquisite taste in music.”
Ambassador Chen tweeted, “I stumbled upon a beautiful interaction between two kind gentlemen,” adding “Amr Diab is my favorite musician, I like his songs very much, I made the song “Wahashtiny” my ringtone.”
Amr Diab’s fandom has sky-rocketed in recent years with numerous appearances at major events in the Kingdom such as Formula-E’s debut in the Middle East at Diriyah in 2018.
Al-Sheikh replied lightheartedly to the ambassador’s tweet: “Thank you very much, Ambassador and you are more than welcome in your second country. I have one complaint, Amr Diab keeps getting younger every year.”
The singer excitedly replied: “I am very happy with the Chinese Ambassador @AmbChenWeiQing’s interaction (with us) and your follow ups with my songs. This is Riyadh Season’s mission, to go global. Thank you @Turki_alalshikh, you are making me bear a great responsibility to be younger than the year before.”

On Saturday, the chairman of the GEA tweeted an invite to the Chinese ambassador: “@AmbChenWeiQing The General Entertainment Authority invites you to any party or event, for you and your dear family, an invite from me personally.”
The ambassador replied: “Thank you for the kind invite, you are part of my family.” The heartwarming interaction between important figures from two nations made Twitter flood with comments from users that show the strong ties between the Kingdom and the People’s Republic of China.
In an interview with Arab News last month, Ambassador Chen highlighted how the ties between the two nations had strengthened after the pandemic.
“The saying ‘a friend in need is a friend indeed’ has become the best footnote to the friendship between China and Saudi Arabia,” he told Arab News.
The ambassador said the two countries responded quickly to support each other.
“At the critical time when the Chinese people were striving to win the battle against COVID-19, the Saudi Arabian government and people, from all walks of life, voiced support and offered assistance to China in various ways,” he said.
Chen said that since the outbreak Chinese President Xi Jinping and King Salman have spoken three times on the phone, and the two countries have carried out high-level cooperation in COVID-19 prevention and control. “I believe greater progress and development of bilateral relations will be achieved after the pandemic,” he added. Riyadh Season took off in 2019 and attracted more than 5 million visitors — both locals and from abroad.