
In an interview with the Iranian newspaper Morning Star the foreign policy analyst Fereydoun Majlessi explained that the motives for the visit of the Iranian foreign minister to China are mostly economical. According to Majlessi Iran’s greater interest lies in economic opening to the world and not in isolation and resistance, which make it more vulnerable to unequal relations in the world politics and economy
Setare-ye Sobh, 17 January 2022
On 14 and 15 January 2022 the Iranian foreign minister Amir Abdollahian visited Beijing and met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. The visit was widely reported in Iran and the world as the beginning of the implementation of the 2021 “strategic agreement” between Iran and China. The visit took place also in the context of the ongoing Vienna talks on the renewal of the nuclear agreement between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the group of six countries (USA, Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China) and intensive consultations of the Chinese and Iranan foreign ministries with countries from the Middle East over the evolution of Middle Eastern politics.
During Abdollahian’s visit there were few announcements of concrete new steps in the Iranan-Chinese relations. There have been very few concrete agreements between the two countries following the signing of “the strategic agreement” in March 2021. The only more important step has been Iran’s admission to the Shanghai Security Organization, which was lauded by some as a blow in the face of American imperialism and by others as a dangerous move towards the authoritarian camp in international relations and departure from the founding principle of the Islamic Republic “Neither East, Nor West’. Most likely, closer to the truth is the opinion of the Iranian foreign policy expert Diako Hosseini, who gave an interview to the Iranian Labour News Agency in September 2021 and the Persian Bridge of Friendship republished it: “There are limits to the benefits from Iran’s membership to Shanghai Cooperation Organization”.
In this context of relative media hype, but much less substance about the Iranian foreign minister’s visit in China, Fereydoun Majlessi commented on the reasons behind the visit, on the core interests of Iran and China and suggested that Iran’s reintegration in the world economy as a stronger economically country is much more important than posing as a country of anti-Western resistance.
Continue reading “The economic bond between Iran and China is forced upon them, while their core interests lie elsewhere”