RIYADH/TOKYO -- It took until Wednesday morning for the Chinese government to announce that President Xi Jinping was flying to Saudi Arabia later in the day.

Typically, a leader's visit is announced at the Foreign Ministry's daily media briefing several days in advance. Instead, the trip was announced in the form of an 8 a.m. statement by ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying, despite Saudi officials acknowledging the visit days earlier. As late as Tuesday afternoon, a Chinese government spokesperson said: "I have nothing to share at the moment."