China-Iran Summit and Strengthening of Economic-Security Strategic Partnership 

Chung Jae-hung 

Research Fellow, 

The Sejong Institute

(jameschung@sejong.org)

     Since President Xi Jinping's first overseas trip after the Covid-19 pandemic in September Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi made his overseas trip to China from Feb. 14 to 16. In particular, as the U.S.-China New Cold War proceeds with the Chinese Spy balloon incident in the U.S. on February 4, the Iranian President's visit to China and the subsequent bilateral summit suggest considerable internal and external implications toward strategic economic-security cooperation.

     At the bilateral summit held In Beijing on Feb. 14, China and Iran unanimously opposed U.S. unilateralism and hegemony and announced the development of cooperative relations between each other, and strengthen their strategic partnership with the upcoming new era. During the meeting, President Xi said "China supports Iran's national sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity, and national dignity, and Iran's resistance against unilateralism and intimidation". In response, President Lai Shi also said, "Iran and China firmly oppose unilateralism, hegemony, and external interference in internal affairs, and Iran firmly supports China's defense of the one-China policy, national sovereignty and territory," As such, both President Xi Jinping and President Lai Shi strongly criticized the unilateralism and hegemony of the U.S. with an integrated stand and agreed to make efforts to establish a multipolar international order by strengthened strategic cooperation between the two countries.

     For this, Iran agreed to actively participate in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Global Development Initiative (GDI), and Global Security Initiative (GSI) pursued by Xi Jinping's leadership to establish a multipolar international political, economic, and security order. Already, China is seeking to build a major mid-long-term infrastructure that extends to China-Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran to expand its political and economic influence in the region through BRI. Though the situation in the region is complicated due to Islamic terrorist groups (Al Qaeda, ISIS, etc.), if China maximizes its utilization of economic cooperation, it is likely to create a new China-led regional order, replacing the U.S.'s withdrawal from Afghanistan. In particular, on March 27, 2021, China signed a 25-year comprehensive-strategic partnership with Iran for stabilized petroleum supply at reduced prices over the next 25 years, and China agreed to invest about USD 400 billion in oil-gas energy resource development, port-road-railway-solar power plant infrastructure construction, electric vehicle, and 5G communication.

     By October last year, bilateral trade recorded about $26 billion, making China Iran's largest trading partner for many years, and plans to increase petroleum and natural gas imports and make it a key bridgehead in the Middle East by building major infrastructure in Iran, import agricultural products, human exchange, and tourism. In addition, the two countries agreed to expand cooperation not only in the military such as weapons development and training but also in non-traditional security fields such as terrorism, drug, and crime. 

     Meanwhile, China said it will participate more actively in negotiations to restore the 2015 Iran Nuclear Agreement (JCPOA) and make every effort to protect Iran's legitimate rights and resolve the Iranian nuclear issue as soon as possible. The Iran nuclear development collapsed in 2017 when U.S. President Trump unilaterally announced the withdrawal and restored sanctions against Iran. With the Biden administration, negotiations have been underway to restore the nuclear agreement, but have been stalled due to continued opposition from Israel, the Syrian civil war, and the Ukraine crisis. In response, China plans to pursue negotiations primarily with Germany and France, while proceeding with continuous communication with Russia and Iran to restore the Iran nuclear agreement. Furthermore, as the Syrian Assad regime seeks internal order through active military by Russia and Iran due to the Syrian civil war, China is expected to engage in cooperation with Russia and Shia Iran. Hence, China's influence in the Middle East is expected to expand further if China promotes economic cooperation and infrastructure reconstruction with Iran, and Syria based on strategic economic-security cooperation with Russia to diversify the international order.

     With a success in long reign through the 20th Party Congress, Xi Jinping's government expressed its mid-long term foreign strategy from "leading participants" to "active leaders" to build a multilateral international order, away from a U.S.-centered unipolar international society. Xi Jinping's leadership, which succeeded in long-term power through the 20th Party Congress last year, no longer emerged from U.S.-centered unipolar and expressed its mid-to-long-term external strategy from "leading participants" to "active leaders" to build a multilateral international order. For that, China began to implement active foreign policies by strengthening strategic security-economic cooperation with Russia, expanding the influence of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and BRICS, and presenting BRI, GDI, and GSI.

     With the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, strategic security cooperation between China and Russia is in full swing to build a multipolar international order and integrate Eurasia in the mid-long term. In fact, despite continued sanctions from the West, Iran became a member of SCO, leading SCO to become the world's largest security-economic multilateral consultative organization with about 3.1 billion population, accounting for 44 percent of the world's population. Shortly, China has a mid-long-term strategic plan to accelerate the establishment of a multipolar international order and regional integration in Eurasia, consisting of many developing countries along with North Korea.

     After the 20th Party Congress, the new leadership with Xi Jinping plans to solidify further relations with Russia, Iran, and North Korea, which holds a very important strategic position in Eurasia to respond to the Indo-Pacific strategy by the U.S. and create a multipolar international order while integrating the Eurasian region. In particular, strategic economic-security cooperation between China and Russia is expected to be further strengthened in the Moscow Summit expected in March and April. Hence, North Korean leader, Kim JongUn's visit to Beijing is expected this year, and the emergence of a new level of Eurasian multilateral strategic economy and security cooperation leading to China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea cannot be ruled out.

     Following the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party in 2021, Xi Jinping's government presented the Community of Common Destiny, new international relations(GDI), and Global Security Initiatives to establish a new regional order for the realization of Socialism with Chinese characteristics by 2049. Therefore, we also need to understand the rapid changes in international order more soberly and objectively and to find a more balanced foreign policy to continue communications with China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea to solve the problems in the Korean peninsula and new changes in the region