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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Will China's tilt toward Iran infuriate Saudis? |
| 2016-01-26 |
| [CNBC] China is strengthening economic ties with Iran a week after international sanctions were lifted against the country, but does so at the risk of infuriating Saudi Arabia. Chinese President Xi Jinping, the first international leader to visit Iran after the trade restrictions were removed, capped his visit to Tehran with 17 agreements for cooperation in areas including energy, trade, and industry. The two countries also agreed to increase bilateral trade more than 10-fold in the next decade as China pursues its One Belt One Road project, an ambitious network of road, rail and port routes that will connect China to Central Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. With Iran at the end of the Asian road before it heads into Turkey and Europe, China is likely targeting to build numerous infrastructure facilities in Iran, said . But the warmer ties will irritate oil giant Saudi Arabia whose already fraught relationship with Iran has worsened after Saudi Arabia executed a well-known Shiite cleric earlier this month. Xi visited Riyadh and Egypt before heading to Tehran. Jean-Francois Seznec, a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said, "China loves Saudi Arabia as far as the oil is concerned because they love Saudi Aramaco as a very reliable supplier, but otherwise from a political standpoint, Iran is going to be the favorite child of China in that region." As for Iran, various factions in the country are likely to be more united in accepting China over the U.S. or Europe as a partner, said Seznec. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met with Xi on Saturday where he expressed the Iranian government's distrust of the United States and Europe. He said, "The government and nation of Iran have always been and [still] are looking for the expansion of relations with independent and reliable countries like China and on this basis, the agreement between the presidents of Iran and China for [promotion of] 25-year strategic relations is totally correct and endowed with wisdom. The Western [governments] have never been able to win the Iranian nation's trust." |
| Posted by:ryuge |