Saudi Arabia's oil giant boss speaks up for China, saying its massive production of solar panels and EVs helps affordability

• Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser praised China for making solar panels and electric vehicles affordable.

• The West has recently stepped up criticism over China's dumping of cheap green products on the global markets.

• Saudi Arabia is fostering closer ties with China and wooing Chinese investments and business partnerships.

China's green industries have an unlikely ally in Saudi Aramco — the world's largest oil company — who praised the world's second-largest economy for making solar panels and electric vehicles affordable.

"China really helped by reducing the cost of solar energy," Amin Nasser, the CEO of state-owned Saudi Aramco, said at the World Energy Congress in Rotterdam on Monday, according to the Financial Times.

"We can see the same now in electric vehicles. Their cost is one-third to one-half the cost of other electric vehicles," Nasser added, as he called for globalization and collaboration, per the FT.

Because China has made these green products so affordable, they will help the West achieve its target of cutting carbon emissions to a net zero level by 2050, said Nasser.

The West has hit out against China's overcapacity

Nasser's comments came amid the West's criticism that China has been dumping cheap solar panels and EVs on the global markets.

Earlier this month, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen slammed overcapacity and overproduction in China during a visit to the East Asia nation.

"China is now simply too large for the rest of the world to absorb this enormous capacity," said Yellen. She warned China against repeating its actions over a decade ago when it dumped products like steel on the global markets, decimating industries and communities.

Last week, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, too, echoed Yellen's concerns during a visit to China when he called for fair competition.

Beijing has hit back against the West's accusations of dumping, framing the criticism as a tactic to limit China's economic development.