China Waiting for Iran’s 2021 Presidential Election

The climate of region in the past century has not been like today so apt in favor of China for investment.

IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK

The Chinese have invested billions of yuans in southern Pakistan and they have found the climate for investment so conducive than ever. The MoU on cooperation and $400b investment with Iran in the hands of Chinese are waiting for a sustainable political climate in Iran.

The Chinese have pinned their hopes on the 2021 presidential election in Iran for political and economic stability in the country. The U.S. Administration can scream loudly over this event. It makes no difference whether Trump Administration screams or Biden’s Administration is forced to do it.

The U.S. after three years of steadily declining during the Donald Trump’s Administration has sharply deteriorated in 2020. Beijing and Washington have traded blame over the coronavirus pandemic and remained locked in an endless trade war, competed over 5G networks and other technologies, and clashed over rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong (among other issues).

The U.S. Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in an article published in its website said, “U.S. President-Elect Joe Biden will have to grapple with all these challenges from day one in office. In this roundup, CFR experts look back on significant moments over the past year that will have lasting implications for the relationship and offer their analysis on what to expect under Biden. In the weeks following the U.S. presidential election, administration officials have undertaken a flurry of activities related to Tibet, Taiwan, financial decoupling, and the South China Sea, adding to the vast edifice of initiatives they have constructed over the past four years.”

The website continued, “While it may appear as though these last-minute actions will make it more difficult for the incoming Biden administration, the opposite is true. The more policies the Trump administration piles on, the greater the leverage and range of options it leaves for the Biden team. The Biden administration will have the luxury of deciding how much to retain of what the Trump team has built. Some decisions, such as whether to maintain tariffs on $370 billion worth of Chinese goods, will be challenging. The tariffs have hurt the U.S. economy, but they have also given the United States economic leverage. Other moves, including reviving the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue with Australia, India, and Japan; elevating the U.S.-Taiwan relationship; and sanctioning officials and companies suspected of human rights abuses in Xinjiang, are likely here to stay.”

The CFR went on, “The Biden administration could realize some quick wins by filling in the gaping holes the Trump team has created by abandoning traditional sources of U.S. leverage and influence. Rejoining international institutions and agreements, partnering with European allies, strengthening the United States, and reconstructing the U.S.-China diplomatic framework are likely all on Biden’s agenda. Although the damage inflicted on Hong Kong’s freedoms in 2020—and subsequently on China’s relations with Western liberal democracies, including the United States—appears to be irreversible for the foreseeable future. Beijing’s management in Hong Kong and uprooting the interests of Europe and the U.S. in that region has worsened the U.S.-China relation and even China’s relation with Europe. “

It added, “Destroying the old interests of UK in Hong Kong has left the Westerners high and dry and caused a hidden anger in the West which is not probably comparable with any time in creation of animosity. The succession of Hong Kong–related edicts issued by China’s legislative body, the National People’s Congress, and its Standing Committee, as well as the prompt implementation of that legislation under the guidance of newly installed central government secret police and officials, neutered Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, eliminated prospects for elections with Western intentions, limited the powers of its independent courts, intimidated the pro-West media.”

So all of these led to China’s policy for distancing itself from the West and undoubtedly the Chinese have found their interests for keeping their economic growth in the Persian Gulf, Sea of Oman, and Indian Ocean and this will give the opportunity to the Islamic Republic of Iran to welcome billions of dollars investment.

Previous bonds with China without having any effect on the structure of independence and freedom of the Islamic Republic can become easily hundreds of times much deeper and far-reaching in the region. All attentions of Majlis and the Judiciary should be focused on this issue that lest the 12th government, due to its western approach, vex or offend the Chinese in its last days. The future of our relations with China relies on the maturity of the next government in Iran and I have no doubt that we do have a special and broad look to these relations.

  By: Hamid Reza Naghashian