While the discovery of “spy balloons” rekindles tensions between Beijing and Washington, China is preparing to receive one of the worst enemies of the United States: the Iranian president. Ebrahim Raïssi is expected in Beijing from February 14 to 16. At the top of the state since August 2021, he met Chinese President Xi Jinping in September 2022 at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit held in Uzbekistan.
According to China Daily, daily newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, “This visit should strengthen the collaboration of the two countries in areas including the economy and sensitive international issues”. According to the Iranian news agency IRNA, China is Tehran’s main economic partner. The two countries signed a twenty-five-year strategic cooperation agreement in March 2021 – the details of which have never been made public – but, after two years, it has yet to be finalized. “Progress has been delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic and by changes in the surrounding context”modestly acknowledges the GlobalTimes. Like all the Chinese press, this one only very marginally mentions the protest movement that has shaken Iran since September 16, 2022 and the death in Tehran of a student after her arrest by the morality police for “wearing inappropriate clothing”.
In an article published Monday in Chinese in the People’s Daily, iranian president “welcomes the initiatives taken by China to promote peace, security and development in the world”. For him, “Iran and China believe that unilateralism and violent measures, such as the imposition of unjust sanctions, are the main source of crises and insecurity in the world”. An attack that explicitly targets Washington.
However, relations between Iran and China are not idyllic. Iran did not look favorably on Xi Jinping’s historic visit to Saudi Arabia in December 2022, nor the first summit between China and the Gulf countries held in Riyadh on this occasion. Especially since the final declaration of this summit indicated that the Gulf States should negotiate with Iran about their dispute over islands in the Strait of Hormuz. Three islands in this maritime passageway essential to global navigation have indeed been controlled by Iran since 1971, but claimed by the United Arab Emirates. Following this statement, the Chinese ambassador to Iran was summoned by the Iranian authorities to hear their point of view on this subject.
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