Rouhani’s Visit, Important Step In Development Of Iran-China Ties

By Reza KhoshLahjeh Tehran, May 21, IRNA - President Hassan Rouhani left here for Shanghai, China, Tuesday morning to participate in the 4th Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA). While in China, Rouhani will also discuss ways and means for development and consolidation of mutual relations in bilateral meetings with heads of the participant countries in general and his Chinese counterpart in particular. Although Rouhani’s trip to the port city of Shanghai in east China could not be considered a formal state visit, under the present circumstances, the scheduled meeting between the presidents of the two countries enjoys great importance from different dimensions. As Rouhaniˈs deputy chief of staff for communications and information has announced, the meeting between presidents of Iran and China has been scheduled for Thursday. During the meeting the two sides are expected to review Iran-China strategic relations in different areas and discuss their expectations for consolidation and development of bilateral relations. The upcoming meeting between the presidents of Iran and China is the second over the past year. Chinese President Xi Jinpinghad earlier met with Rouhani on the sidelines of the Shahnghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit conference in Bishkek shortly after the coming to power the new government in Iran. During the past year and since the formation of the new government in Iran extensive consultations have been held for the development and consolidation of relations with different countries and exchange of bilateral delegations between the two sides in this regard is measurable. The recent visit of the Iranian Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Ali Tayebnia and Minister of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics Hossein Dehqan on the one hand and the visit of Chinese Presidentˈs Special Envoy Yang Jiechi to Iran and his meetings with high-ranking Iranian officials on the other are among developments that have accelerated development of bilateral relations between Tehran and Beijing. From Dr. Rouhani’s point of view, the current relations between Iran and China are extensive and strong and the interest of the two sides in maintaining strategic, regional and international relations has provided leaders of the two countries with a bright panoramato promote bilateral cooperation. Iran and China, as two important countries in East and West Asia which enjoy long-standing and historical relations, maintain strategic ties and as President Rouhani put it: ˈIran like China is interested in development of strategic ties and further expansion of interactions between the two countries in different dimensions.ˈ Examination of the positions and outlooks of Chinese leaders in recent years has always confirmed the fact that China as the largest developing country in the world is after strengthening and expanding strategic, international and regional cooperation with different world countries. Iranˈs high status in regional and international arenas on the one hand and its position in the center of the strategic region of the world in terms of oil and gas, has always placed our country in a prior position for Chinaˈs Asian relations. A glance at the background of economic relations between the two countries shows that the accelerating growth of trade cooperation between Iran and China has led trade exchanges between the two countries increase from $400 million in 1994 to about $40 billion in 2013. According to statistics, economic relations of the Islamic Republic of Iran with China in recent years have enjoyed an annual growth rate of 30% to 50% and in the event of continuation of the existing process, it can be predicted that the volume of trade exchanges between the two countries would reach over $50 billion in 2015. Economic relations between Iran and China are affected by complex factors which should be considered in the analysis of economic relations of the two countries. On the one hand demand for energy in China which has drastically gone up after the reform era and the open door policy is such that the country in order to maintain its high economic growth is dependent on oil resources of different countries, including Iran. On the other hand, China has deep economic links with the United States and Europe so that the volume of China-US trade relations has been estimated beyond $400 billion.Naturally this volume of economic relations would prevent Beijing from adopting radical approaches towards Washington. Perhaps it is the reason that in Iranˈs nuclear case China cooperates with the United States on the sanctions against Tehran and at the same time consolidates its energy ties with Tehran. Although China, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has always voted in favor of anti-Iran UNSC resolutions described by the Iranian president as cruel, their needs particularly in the field of energy have forced the Chinese to use any way for maintaining their own interests and preserve their strategic and economic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran. China, currently as the largest developing country in the world which is very thirsty for and in need of energy knows well that Iran as a safe and stable country is the best, the safest and the most economical choice to meet its energy needs. China’s growing need for energy has led the country to develop its relations with Iran as a country possessing rich oil and gas resources and supplying its crude oil demands. This is at a time that the International Energy Agency has announced that by the next two years 70% of China’s oil imports would be from the Middle East. On the other hand, Chinese officials and politicians have repeatedly acknowledged that their outlook towards relations with Tehran is long-term and strategic and have repeatedly stressed that development of overall relations with Iran is Beijing’s principled policy. Increased mobility in Beijing’s diplomacy for strengthening and consolidation of relations with Tehran in recent months is taking place under conditions that Iran’s cooperation with many world countries and European companies has entered a new stage after the historic nuclear deal with P5+1 in Geneva. It seems that the Chinese who, in recent years and due to the Western sanctions against Iran, have taken the most advantage of the strained relations between Tehran and the West, now with the creation of a new atmosphere of cooperation between Iranian and European companies, particularly in the field of oil and gas, are attempting to preserve the volume of $40 billion of trade exchanges and take greater strides for development of relations with Iran. Iran has repeatedly announced that it welcomes development of relation with all countries and the government of Iran is interested to use the Chinese approach in the interest of the country and for implementation of development projects. It seems that Dr. Rouhani’s visit to China for participation in the CICA Summit and meeting with his Chinese counterpart would prepare the ground for improvement of relations between the two countries in different fields./end