{"id":14640,"date":"2021-04-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-02T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/uncategorized\/02-04-2021\/china-iran-25-year-strategic-pact\/"},"modified":"2024-05-08T14:44:17","modified_gmt":"2024-05-08T09:14:17","slug":"china-iran-25-year-strategic-pact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/02-04-2021\/china-iran-25-year-strategic-pact","title":{"rendered":"China-Iran 25-year \u2018Strategic Pact\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>In News<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Recently,<strong> China and Iran<\/strong> signed a 25-year &#8220;<strong>Strategic Cooperation Pact\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Background <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The partnership was first proposed by <strong>China\u2019s leader, Xi Jinping<\/strong>, during a <strong>visit to Iran in 2016<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The agreement comes amid a major push from <strong>China to back Iran <\/strong>which is under the weight of<strong> U.S sanctions<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>Earlier, China and Russia called for the U.S. to &#8220;unconditionally return to the <strong>Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)<\/strong> as soon as possible and revoke the<strong> unilateral sanctions against Iran<\/strong>\u201d.<\/li>\n<li>Chinese and U.S. officials also held talks on the Iran nuclear deal and \u201cnew changes in the Iranian nuclear situation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Key Highlights <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>investment and security<\/strong> pact would vastly <strong>extend China\u2019s influence<\/strong> in the <strong>Middle East<\/strong>, throwing<strong> Iran an economic lifeline<\/strong> and <strong>creating new flashpoints<\/strong> with the<strong> United States.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>It would expand <strong>Chinese presence in banking, telecommunications, ports, railways and dozens of other projects.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>This will give <strong>Beijing a bigger foothold in Iran<\/strong> and also make<strong> China <\/strong>an important <strong>decision-maker in the region<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0In exchange, China would receive a heavily discounted supply of Iranian oil over the next 25 years<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>This pact\u2019 can be very effective in <strong>deepening\u201d relations<\/strong> and would establish a blueprint for &#8220;<strong>reciprocal investments<\/strong> in the<strong> fields of transport, ports, energy, industry and services.&#8221;<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>China\u2019s multi-country Eurasian infrastructure projects, under the umbrella of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), are now being extended to Iran.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Concerns for India<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>India has repeatedly conveyed its concerns regarding the <strong>US sanctions on Iran.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Iran happens to be the <strong>third-largest energy<\/strong> supplier to <strong>India <\/strong>and the <strong>sanctions have blocked these supplies<\/strong>, adding to a spurt in the oil prices and throwing the <strong>trade balance off the track.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Iran also happens to be the entry point for India for trade with the Central Asian countries where India\u2019s geographical approach is limited.<\/li>\n<li>With the increasing presence of China in Iran, India has been concerned about the strategic s<strong>takes of the Chabahar port project.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The port is close to <strong>Gwadar port in Pakistan<\/strong>, which is being developed by <strong>China as part of its China-Pakistan Economic Corridor<\/strong> that links it to the <strong>Indian Ocean through BRI.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The access to the Chabahar port may prove strategically important for India.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Chinese closer ties with oil producers can bring governance and energy security issues for India.<\/li>\n<li>Presently India finds itself caught in the geopolitical rivalry between the US &amp; China over Iran.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Way Forward<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>India must try to remain <strong>politically engaged with Iran<\/strong> for a better appreciation of each <strong>other\u2019s sensitivities and compulsions<\/strong> and mutual interests.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0It is extremely important for India to take the lead in creating an institutional structure with <strong>Iran and Afghanistan<\/strong> and seriously pursue the <strong>Turkmenistan\u2013Afghanistan\u2013Pakistan\u2013India (TAPI)<\/strong> gas pipeline project to ensure energy security.<\/li>\n<li>India must have balanced<strong> diplomatic relations with the US and Iran.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table style=\"width: 624px;\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"background-color: #fff2cc; width: 468.0pt;\"><strong>Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>BRI is a transcontinental long-term policy and investment program which aims at infrastructure development and acceleration of the economic integration of countries along the route of the historic Silk Road.<\/li>\n<li>The Initiative was unveiled in 2013 by China&#8217;s President Xi Jinping and until 2016, was known as OBOR \u2013 One Belt One Road.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>BRI aims to \u201cpromote the connectivity of Asian, European and African continents and their adjacent seas, establish and strengthen partnerships among the countries along the Belt and Road, set up all-dimensional, multi-tiered and composite connectivity networks, and realize diversified, independent, balanced and sustainable development in these countries.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Belt and Road Initiative combines two initiatives<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The (land-based) Silk Road Economic Belt, comprising six development corridors<\/li>\n<li>(Ocean-going )The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"height: 242px; margin-left: 100px; margin-right: 100px; width: 492px;\" src=\"https:\/\/cfstatic.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/file_library\/mix_content\/191955058308785730_image.png\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beltroad-initiative.com\/belt-and-road\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source : The Belt and Road Initiative<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/international\/iran-china-sign-25-year-cooperation-agreement\/article34176965.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source :TH<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In News Recently, China and Iran signed a 25-year &#8220;Strategic Cooperation Pact\u201d. Background The partnership was first proposed by China\u2019s leader, Xi Jinping, during a visit to Iran in 2016. The agreement comes amid a major push from China to back Iran which is under the weight of U.S sanctions. Earlier, China and Russia called [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[56,30],"class_list":["post-14640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs","tag-agreements-involving-india-or-affecting-indias-interests","tag-gs-2"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2023\/07\/3882596Current-Affairs.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14640"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24472,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14640\/revisions\/24472"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}