A recently leaked document suggests that China and Iran are entering a
25-year strategic partnership in trade, politics, culture, and
security.To get more
China latest news, you can visit shine news official website.
Cooperation between China and Middle Eastern countries is neither
new nor recent. Yet what distinguishes this development from others is
that both China and Iran have global and regional ambitions, both have
confrontational relationships with the United States, and there is a
security component to the agreement. The military aspect of the
agreement concerns the United States, just as last year’s unprecedented
Iran-China-Russia joint naval exercise in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of
Oman spooked Washington.
China’s growing influence in East Asia and Africa has challenged
U.S. interests, and the Middle East is the next battlefield on which
Beijing can challenge U.S. hegemony—this time through Iran. This is
particularly important since the agreement and its implications go
beyond the economic sphere and bilateral relations: It operates at the
internal, regional, and global level.
Internally, the agreement can be an economic lifeline for Iran,
saving its sanctions-hit, cash-strapped economy by ensuring the sale of
its oil and gas to China. In addition, Iran will be able to use its
strategic ties with China as a bargaining chip in any possible future
negotiations with the West by taking advantage of its ability to expand
China’s footprint in the Persian Gulf.
While there are only three months left before the 2020 U.S.
presidential election, closer scrutiny of the new Iran-China strategic
partnership could jeopardize the possibility of a Republican victory.
That’s because the China-Iran strategic partnership proves that the
Trump administration’s maximum pressure strategy has been a failure; not
only did it fail to restrain Iran and change its regional behavior, but
it pushed Tehran into the arms of Beijing.
In the long term, Iran’s strategic proximity to China implies that
Tehran is adapting the so-called “Look East” policy in order to boost
its regional and military power and to defy and undermine U.S. power in
the Persian Gulf region.
For China, the pact can help guarantee its energy security. The
Persian Gulf supplies more than half of China’s energy needs. Thus,
securing freedom of navigation through the Persian Gulf is of great
importance for China. Saudi Arabia, a close U.S. ally, has now become
the top supplier of crude oil to China, as Chinese imports from the
kingdom in May set a new record of 2.16 million barrels per day. This
dependence is at odds with China’s general policy of diversifying its
energy sources and not being reliant on one supplier. (China’s other
Arab oil suppliers in the Persian Gulf region have close security ties
with the United States.)
China fears that as the trade war between the two countries
intensifies, the United States may put pressure on those countries not
to supply Beijing with the energy it needs. A comprehensive strategic
partnership with Iran is both a hedge and an insurance policy; it can
provide China with a guaranteed and discounted source of energy.
The Wall