Iran and China Sign Cooperation Agreements
Jose Nino
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On February 14, 2023, Chinese Strongman Xi Jinping met Iranian leader Ebrahim Raisi in Beijing, where the two leaders signed 20 cooperation agreements to strengthen ties between China and Iran.
According to The Cradle, two leaders held a meeting at the headquarters of the National People’s Congress of China to talk about strengthening bilateral cooperation in certain areas such as “crisis management, tourism, communication and information technology, trade, agriculture, exports, healthcare, media, sports, and cultural heritage.”
Raisi gave his thanks to Xi for the support the National People’s Congress of China (NPC) has given Iran in attempting to bolster strategic ties between the two countries.
Raisi described Sino-Iranian relations as “two friends in hard times,” stressing the necessity of using the full force of regional and trans-regional mechanisms to foster joint cooperation.
Xi also voiced his support for reviving the Iranian nuclear deal with the United States and emphasized China’s support in protecting Iran’s rights and interests, per Chinese media. Xi gave Raisi additional guarantees that China would continue to “participate constructively” in trying to re-ignite talks to resurrect the Iranian nuclear deal.
Following their meeting, the Iranian President said to reporters that China and Iran hold similar views on combating unilateralism at the international level.
In 2021, Iran was brought on board to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as a permanent member. Iran subsequently applied to join BRICS – two international organizations where China and Russia hold prominent positions.
China is still Iran’s largest trading partner and its #1 buyer of its oil. In the past year, oil exports from Iran to China reached $12.6 billion.
Back In 2021, China and Iran signed a 25-year strategic cooperation pact in “political, strategic, and economic” areas.
Raisi’s visit to China forms part of his regime’s “Look to the East” policy, where Iran strives to forge alliances with non-western world powers that align politically with Iran, and oppose the US’s universalist agenda.
Overall, the neoconservative and neoliberal fanaticism that has captured DC foreign policy decisionmaking has created the conditions for an Eursian alliance to form between China, Iran, and Russia to serve as a balancing force against the Collective West’s zealous foreign policy.
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