head of abraham, Iranian presidentended on thursday beijing one of the disturbing visits West. Iranian Adds new sanctions to old ones for the sale of drones to Russia nuclear program and suppressed civil protests with 500 deaths. This is the closest thing to an international pariah. Xi Jinping received raisins In the bubble crisis with Washington, which began with disturbing allusions to an “international surveillance program run by the Chinese military” and ended with US jets shooting down anything flying and then asking questions.
Iranian He has understandable accusations for Beijing. volume trade And investments can be greatly developed, and China’s diverse interests Middle East lThey are forcing a diplomatic balance that disturbs Tehran. The meeting underlined that there is no difference that outweighs the common laments regarding hostility to the USA.
On the eve of the visit, several articles in the Chinese press were waiting for this tune. Talks with Raisi’s signature in ‘People’s Daily’ Chinese aspect “old friend” He emphasized that both countries see unilateralism and “unfair” sanctions as the cause of insecurity and crises in the world. The editorial of the ‘Global Times’, the most nationalistic of the Chinese media, reminded that despite the “interference and sabotage” of the Chinese media, bilateral relations have strengthened. United States of America and pointed to his health as proof that there is room for the welfare of nations outside the Western bloc. Critics of Sino-Iranian cooperation are “arrogant, irrational and authoritarian”.
Great Iranian delegation
Few large delegations passed beijing. Raisi came with the governor the central bankHE chief negotiator between nuclear program And half a dozen related to ministers economy, commerce, urban development, agriculture or oil. The most urgent thing Cooperation Strategic Plan To summarize, a 25-year period that includes Chinese investments in exchange for energy resources. It was signed last year with a squeaky bang with the results. Chinese The biggest one Iranian business partner however, these data are underestimated in 2023. While the exact numbers are not known, it is also a major buyer of its oil. But China only invested $162 million in the first year of Raisi’s presidency. With Turkey anyone Afghanistan, for example, has been more generous. Even Russia has surpassed it as the main source of foreign investment.
This economy Iran is more urgent than geopolitics, says Stanley Rosen, a professor of political science at the US-China Institute at the University of South Carolina. “It is suffering from social protests over inflation and other economic problems that go beyond the death of the young woman who initiated them. Iran is dissatisfied with Chinese investments or aid, and its ministers have publicly expressed their disappointment. It is no different. Central and eastern Europe, such as the Czech Republic, which has high hopes for unfulfilled Chinese investments.” countries,” he says.
Context will nurture collaboration. Iranian The key to the New Silk Road, Xi branded commercial megaproject that covid and the West’s barriers delayed it. And China is the basis for the “return to the East” that Tehran has emphasized after the US sanctions.
No sound from the Strait of Hormuz
there is no such news xi And raisins We discussed China’s position in an area that requires Florentine diplomacy. Tehran summoned its Chinese ambassador for consultations last year after Beijing signed a declaration. Gulf Cooperation Council Questioning Iran’s territorial claims on the three islands Strait of Hormuz. Many analysts had already suggested that the issue would be pushed aside to maintain cohesion.
Chinese keep buying crude oil Iranian and breaking the isolation pursued by Washington by opening the doors to alternative platforms with increasing weight. Iranian will enter this year Shanghai Cooperation Organization, A Beijing-backed presence seeking security and peace in Asia. It was founded twenty years ago and includes China, Russia, several Central Asian republics, India and Pakistan. beijing It also supports input. Iranian inside BRICSgroup of developing countries that make up 40% of the world’s population. The war in Ukraine highlighted the new bloc policy: only one BRICS country denounced the Russian invasion (it was Brazil and quickly clarified its neutrality), and none of them joined the sanctions.
proximity Teheran Its alliance with Moscow, and both with Beijing, strengthened by the policy of sanctions, nevertheless points to an anti-Western alliance that deserves many qualities. “These countries were already very close before. Also, as the liberal democracies of Europe and Asia come closer together, the liberal democracies of Europe and Asia will move away from China (…) China does not want to be seen on a ‘front of rejection’ with Russia and Iran because it hurts it. global interests,” he assures Rosen.