BEIJING — Expanding and deepening ties with Oman is a "shared strategic choice" for both countries, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said on Monday at the start of their talks in Beijing, saying bilateral relations stand at a "new historical starting point." Sultan Haitham arrived in the Chinese capital on Sunday for a two-day state visit — the first by an Omani head of state since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1978.
Source: Reuters, Nov 2
"I am ready to work with you to guide the China-Oman strategic partnership to an even higher level, better serve the peoples of our two countries, and contribute to peace, stability and prosperity in the region," Xi said, according to a report from the media pool covering the meeting.
Source: Reuters, Nov 2
China's foreign ministry had flagged the visit's weight in advance. Spokesperson Guo Jiakun said it would be Sultan Haitham's first visit to China since ascending the throne, and the first by an Omani head of state in the 48 years since ties were established, with Xi holding talks for an in-depth exchange on bilateral relations and issues of mutual interest, and a separate meeting planned with Premier Li Qiang.
Source: Chinese Foreign Ministry briefing, Oct 30, via Xinhua reporting
A partnership built on energy — and a push to move beyond it
China is now Oman's largest trading partner and its biggest export market. Trade between the two reached RO 9.6 billion in 2025 — yaani roughly $25 billion — with Omani exports of about RO 7.7 billion against imports of RO 1.9 billion, a surplus of around RO 5.7 billion that reflects Chinese demand for Omani crude oil, liquefied natural gas and related products, according to Oman's National Centre for Statistics and Information, cited by the Oman Observer. Preliminary figures for the first seven months of 2026 put bilateral trade at RO 5.4 billion, including RO 3.9 billion in Omani exports.
Source: Oman Observer / NCSI, Nov 1
Both sides set up their strategic partnership in 2018, and the economic agenda is widening past oil. Chinese businesspeople and investors told the Oman News Agency they expected agreements and memorandums signed during the visit to open investment in energy, industry, logistics, technology and healthcare, supporting the Sultanate's Oman Vision 2040 diversification programme and its pitch as a regional hub connecting Gulf, African and Indian Ocean markets.
Source: Oman News Agency, via Fana News, Nov 1
Why Oman matters beyond the trade ledger
Oman sits on the southern shore of the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway at the centre of the US-Israeli war on Iran, and Muscat has a long record as the Gulf's quiet intermediary. The Beijing visit comes while that war is in a lull: Iranian negotiators held a third consecutive day of talks with Qatari mediators in Doha on Sunday aimed at a possible agreement to end the conflict, Reuters reported. For the lakhs of Indian and Punjabi workers across the Gulf — Oman included — and for oil-importing economies watching crude prices, who Oman talks to, and what it signs, carries weight well beyond Muscat.
Source: Reuters, via AnewZ, Nov 1
What happens next: Sultan Haitham is also due to meet Premier Li Qiang during the two-day visit, and any agreements signed in Beijing will show whether the "higher level" Xi promised on Monday translates into named projects in industry, logistics and technology — or stays, for now, at the level of strategic language.