On the eve of his departure for Beijing, scheduled for February 14, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi met with Rahbar Ali Khamenei, thus showing that he is looking for support for his course to establish partnership relations with China from one of the ideologists of the Islamic Revolution. The Ayatollah wished the politician success in his endeavors, thus finally confirming that the Islamic Republic, which is following the “third way” of development, does not refuse to cooperate with other states[1].
Iranian politicians expected a lot from the working trip of Ebrahim Raisi, who arrived in the capital of China at the invitation of Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Thus, Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian in his social networks expressed the idea that the main topic of negotiations between representatives of Tehran and Beijing will be a 25-year cooperation agreement. We are talking about the memorandum of 2021, according to which the republic decided to join the Belt and Road[2] project. However, as the meetings of officials of the two states from February 14 to 16 showed, both China and Iran, in addition to fulfilling their obligations under the international project, are also striving to improve bilateral cooperation. As Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang noted during a meeting with his Iranian counterpart: “The fruitful negotiations held by the heads of the two states led to a broad and important consensus, provided important strategic guidelines and gave a strong impetus to the development of bilateral relations.”[3]
The three–day visit of the Iranian President to China emphasized his status as “the first in 20 years”[4], not only in terms of expectations, but also in terms of organization. The Minister of Culture met the delegation from the plane and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China, and its arrival at the People’s Assembly Hall (for a minute, the world’s largest meeting building) was accompanied by a march of the guard of honor and an artillery salute. On the eve of the visit, an article by Raisi entitled “Old friends are the best partners for a bright future” appeared in the Chinese newspaper “People’s Daily”.[5] In it, the Iranian President declares in front of the entire Chinese people about the rich history of cooperation between the two countries, rooted in the Silk Road. At the end of his work, he also added that “Iran is doing everything possible for development cooperation with all countries of the world, especially with friendly and influential countries such as China”[6].
As for the cooperation agreements, the variety of areas affected by the signed documents also corresponds to the scope of the working trip. Starting from documents in the field of crisis management and preservation of cultural heritage and ending with initiatives in the field of tourism, media, agriculture, etc.
“This trip was very important because it could implement agreements in various commercial and economic fields between the two countries. Thus, officials of the two countries signed 20 memoranda of understanding,”[7] Raisi said upon arrival in Tehran, noting that the negotiations held between the representatives of the delegation and Chinese politicians were very successful. The Iranian President himself held talks with Xi Jinping, which resulted in a joint call by the leaders of the two countries to strengthen cooperation in the field of security and countering terrorism[8]. At the same time, Raisi and Xi noted that they do not support the “policy of double standards”, attributing adherence to radical views to certain ethnic and religious groups.
It can be said that not only Iran highly appreciates the results of the negotiations, but their direct international partner also enthusiastically evaluates the results of the visit. Thus, Chinese Ambassador to Iran Chang Hua noted that the new agreements will be a fundamentally important moment in the development of bilateral relations between Beijing and Tehran.
“We can say that Mr. Raisi’s visit was very fruitful, and I am sure that he will effectively raise the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Iran to a new level and open a new chapter in relations between the two countries,”[9] the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) quoted him as saying.
In conclusion, we note that today the interaction between Iran and China is at a fairly high level. The Islamic Republic is a major exporter, importing goods worth $ 14 billion into the territory of the partner state (and this is to a country that is considered to be the “world producer of everything”). At the same time, China itself ranks second in the Iranian market in terms of the number of goods sold. Can this indicate a new stage of development in the relations between the two countries? It may well be, if we take into account another aspect of the negotiations that was not mentioned earlier – the proclaimed struggle against the economic hegemony of the West. In particular, this topic was touched upon at a meeting between the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran and the head of the International Relations Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Liu Jianchao.
“The head of the International Relations Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Liu Jianchao, called the Iranian-Chinese relations influential on the events in the region. According to him, the world is moving towards multipolarity, and the era of decision-making by several countries for the world has already passed,”[10] IRNA news agency writes.
[1] https://ru.irna.ir/news/85029067/Раиси-встретился-с-лидером-Исламской-революции-накануне-визита
[2] https://ru.irna.ir/news/85029514/Иран-и-Китай-полны-решимости-выполнить-25-летнее-соглашение-о
[3] https://ru.irna.ir/news/85031024/Тегеран-и-Пекин-должны-продолжать-поддерживать-друг-друга-заявил
[4] https://ru.irna.ir/news/85032240/Раиси-Очень-полезные-соглашения-достигнутые-с-Китаем-в-различных
[5] http://cpc.people.com.cn/n1/2023/0213/c64387-32622338.html
[6] http://cpc.people.com.cn/n1/2023/0213/c64387-32622338.html
[7] https://ru.irna.ir/news/85032240/Раиси-Очень-полезные-соглашения-достигнутые-с-Китаем-в-различных
[8] https://ru.irna.ir/news/85033229/Иран-и-Китай-призывают-к-укреплению-обороны-и-противодействию
[9] https://ru.irna.ir/news/85032864/Визит-президента-Ирана-в-Китай-знаменует-начало-новой-главы-в
[10] https://ru.irna.ir/news/85033115/Амир-Абдоллахиян-заявил-об-открытии-новой-главы-в-отношениях
