Beijing is ready to join forces with Tehran to "jointly resist hegemony, defend equality and justice in the world."

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said this during a meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran.

According to him, unilateral sanctions by individual countries against Iran are unacceptable.

"As before, and now, as well as in the future, China continues to oppose the increased pressure on Iran from the outside through one-sided sanctions," the head of the PRC's Foreign Ministry was quoted by TASS.

The minister also stressed that Beijing "firmly supports Tehran in its desire to protect state sovereignty and develop in accordance with its own choice."

"Any unilateral sanctions are contrary to international law, especially if they are based on lies," he said.

Earlier, the Foreign Ministers of Iran and China, Mohammad Javad Zarif and Wang Yi signed a comprehensive plan of cooperation between the two countries.

“On January 1, 2016, China and Iran issued a joint statement on the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership and agreed to come to a comprehensive plan of cooperation.

Through joint efforts, the Sino-Iranian Comprehensive Cooperation Plan was signed on March 27, "the PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on its Twitter page.

The ministry also noted that this document will help both sides "chart a course for long-term cooperation", thus strengthening the "comprehensive strategic partnership."

In January 2016, #China and #Iran issued a joint statement on establishing a comprehensive strategic partnership and agreed to reach a comprehensive cooperation plan.

Thanks to their joint efforts, the China-Iran comprehensive cooperation plan was signed on 27 March.

pic.twitter.com/In5srS4lIK

- Spokesperson 发言人 办公室 (@MFA_China) March 28, 2021

The Iranian side, in turn, said that the plan focuses on the potential and prospects of bilateral cooperation between the two countries in various fields, including in the economic and cultural spheres.

The Foreign Ministry of the Islamic Republic noted that this document "will ensure the prosperity of both states."

In addition, Zarif called China "a friend in hard times."

“Accordingly, we highly appreciate the position and measures of China during the time of the brutal sanctions against Iran,” he said.

For his part, the head of the PRC Foreign Ministry stressed that "the signing of the roadmap for Iranian-Chinese strategic interaction indicates Beijing's determination to establish ties (with Tehran. -

RT

) at the highest possible level."

American factor

It should be noted that the negotiations between China and Iran took place against the background of aggravation of relations between these states and the United States.

For example, on March 22, the US Treasury announced new restrictions on the PRC for "violating the rights of the Uyghurs" in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

According to the department, the head of the public security department of Xinjiang Chen Mingguo and the deputy secretary of the Xinjiang party committee Wang Junzheng fell under the restrictions.

  • White House

  • Gettyimages.ru

  • © P_Wei

In response, China has imposed its sanctions against the United States, which prohibit the head and vice chairman of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) from entering the mainland and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.

China also called on the United States to stop interfering in the internal affairs of the republic, "correct its mistakes" and stop political manipulation on issues related to Xinjiang.

Earlier, on March 12, the United States released a list of Chinese companies that allegedly threaten national security.

Among them were Huawei Technologies Co., ZTE Corp., Hytera Communications Corp., Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co.

and Dahua Technology Co.

At the same time, on the same day, during a quadripartite dialogue on the security of the leaders of the United States, India, Australia and Japan, the "challenge emanating from China" was discussed.

This was announced by the Assistant to the Head of the White House for National Security Jake Sullivan, stressing that the leaders "made it clear that none of them harbor illusions" about the PRC.

According to Sullivan, Washington wants to "prevail" in a "tough rivalry" with Beijing.

On March 15, the first overseas tour of the head of the Pentagon Lloyd Austin and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken began, during which they visited Japan and South Korea.

Austin motivated the need for these visits, among other things, by the fact that China is a "serious threat" to the United States.

“It is imperative that we tackle the Chinese problem together with partners in the India-Pacific region,” he said on his Twitter.

It is worth recalling that prior to Austin and Blinken's trip, the US State Department published a document stating that Washington and Tokyo are "determined to work together to overcome common challenges" and are focused on "countering the harmful influence and provocative actions of the PRC in Asia and throughout the world ".

  • US President Joe Biden

  • AFP

  • © Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

As for Iranian-American relations, they deteriorated even more after the administration of US President Joe Biden sanctioned airstrikes on targets in Syria, which, according to the American side, were used by paramilitary groups supported by Iran.

After that, the head of the White House called on Iran "to be careful", stressing that his actions "will not go unpunished."

In addition, in early March, Biden extended the sanctions regime against the Middle East republic for a year.

According to the American leader, Iran continues to pose a threat to the security of the United States.

"Reaction to US Sanctions"

Experts call Washington's unfriendly actions one of the reasons for the intensification of bilateral ties between Beijing and Tehran.

“The measures taken by China and Iran to strengthen the partnership are a kind of reaction to the US sanctions against the two countries and, in general, to the ongoing US pressure.

It is also important to note that all this is happening after the not very successful negotiations between the PRC and the United States in Anchorage, where the countries exchanged unfriendly statements, ”Aleksey Maslov, acting director of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said in an interview with RT.

According to him, Beijing "intends to resort to retaliatory steps against the background of the fact that Washington is forming an anti-Chinese coalition."

“In this sense, it is important for China to build up ties with Iran, which has huge reserves of oil and gas and a strategic position.

In addition, one should not forget that the Islamic republic plays an important role for the PRC in the context of promoting the "One Belt - One Road" concept.

Iran is one of the key countries in this project, "Nikita Danyuk, deputy director of the Institute for Strategic Studies and Forecasts of the RUDN University, a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, emphasized in a conversation with RT.

Alexey Maslov, for his part, clarified that this is "not just a political alliance between Beijing and Tehran, but also an energy alliance, given the importance of Iranian oil for China."

“Even in difficult times for the Islamic Republic, many Chinese firms imported oil from Iran.

And this in many ways strengthened the friendly ties between the countries, ”the analyst recalled.

Nikita Danyuk also noted that under the conditions of sanctions pressure from the White House, it was the purchases of Iranian hydrocarbons by China that helped the Islamic republic to stabilize the economic situation.

The expert believes that "against the background of such a backlog, the states together will more actively resist the pressure of the United States."

“This will happen, most likely, at the level of the exchange of intelligence information, any exercises, consultations in the security sphere,” the expert argues.

In addition, China can strengthen its relations with Iran by expanding investments in its infrastructure, Maslov said.

"Due to this, the economic position of the Islamic republic will be strengthened," he explained.

Nikita Danyuk predicts that the confrontation between the United States and China will continue, and "not only in the context of trade and economic relations, but also in the context of the influence of these countries in different regions."

“And it is precisely here that Beijing is extremely interested in creating a counterbalance to the influence of the United States, including in the Middle East, by strengthening relations with Iran.

This is beneficial not only to the PRC, but also to the Islamic republic, since in this way it can protect itself from a hypothetical military scenario, which now seems unlikely, but nevertheless is not excluded.

In addition to cooperation on the security line, Tehran is extremely interested in all kinds of integration processes with Beijing, including at the level of economics and technology, ”the analyst explained.

According to Danyuk, the United States "is extremely not interested in China, together with Iran, to develop infrastructure projects and spread their influence further across the Middle East."   

"It is extremely beneficial for Beijing and Tehran to demonstrate that in the event of increased American pressure on one of these countries, they will not be left alone," he said.

He looks forward to further development and deepening of Sino-Iranian cooperation.

“We will soon see a prototype, if not of a military-political alliance, then at least how Iran willingly provides its territory, military facilities, transport and trade and economic infrastructure to China,” Danyuk is sure.

And in this case, from his point of view, "the United States may find itself in a very difficult situation."

“The merging of the capacities of Iran and China, with its technological and trade and economic advantages, may turn out for the United States to completely lose leverage in the Middle East, which, in spite of all sorts of statements and rhetoric of the American side, is increasingly looks at Beijing, Tehran and Moscow, not Washington, ”the analyst concluded.