Middle Kingdom in the Middle East

Nice color picture in The Economist showing President Xi and an aide, reviewing  a Saudi honor guard with MBS.  MBS is wearing white flowing Laurence-of-Arabia style robes and sandals.  Xi is wearing a standard western style dark business suit and a poker face, his aide is wearing a western style Chinese Army green Class A uniform. The Saudi honor guard are all wearing thick black full beards over jazzy western style military uniforms.  Since the Chinese don't grow beards, much, I had to wonder what Xi was thinking about looking at all those thick black beards on the Saudi troops.