Iran-China partnership deal ‘affront’ to US unilateralism: Analyst

The 25-year strategic partnership agreement between Iran and China serves as an “affront” to US unilateralism and Washington would be well-advised to engage responsibly with such deals rather than oppose, an American political journalist says.

Ian Goodrum, a senior editor and columnist with English-language daily newspaper China Daily, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Thursday, as he was commenting on the recent deal between Tehran and Beijing that covers a variety of economic activity from oil and mining to promoting industrial activity in Iran, as well as transportation and agricultural collaborations for the next 25 years.

The comprehensive strategic partnership agreement, inked by Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his visiting Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Tehran on March 27, also supports tourism and cultural exchanges. 

China, Iran sign 25-year comprehensive strategic partnership deal

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif have signed a 25-year comprehensive strategic partnership agreement, marking a milestone in bilateral relations between the two countries. 

For years, China has been investing in Iran’s energy and transportation sectors. Some of the ongoing projects include China’s involvement in building a high-speed train line linking Tehran to Qom and Isfahan. Its biggest transportation project in Iran yet is worth $1.5 billion to electrify the rail line from Tehran to Mashhad.

Beijing regards the Middle Eastern powerhouse a key destination in China’s trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative involving huge infrastructure projects connecting Asia to Europe and beyond.

Asked about the new US administration’s expression of concern over the new strategic turn in Iran-China ties, Goodrum told Press TV that there has been “a lot of wailing and gnashing” on the part of Washington when such deals are struck as they put America’s pursuit of its strategic ambitions on the global stage at peril.

“The concern being expressed is interesting just because there's been a lot of concern expressing lately from the US with regard to global south countries talking to one another. Anytime China makes an agreement with Russia or Iran or Syria or someplace there's a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth on the part of the US, but no constructive attempts to engage,” Goodrum said.

“You know that any deal being made especially deals between China and other countries seem to be taken as an affront to kind of the US mandate to approve all agreements being made by countries even when the US is not a participant. So I imagine there will be a lot more kind of frustration and irritation over this but the US has a responsibility to engage seriously with these countries when they make any agreements in a respectful manner, in a multilateral manner, in a way that acknowledges their status as sovereign nations,” he added.

Iran-China axis to complicate US pursuit of strategic ambitions: WSJ

A recent report the Iran-China partnership agreement will further complicate America’s pursuit of its strategic ambitions on the global stage.

Pointing to Iran's strategic geopolitical status in the region and that Tehran’s role cannot be taken for granted, the Beijing-based US journalist hailed China's interest in deepening cooperation and increasing exchanges with Iran and said that is because there has been a unilateral rejection of diplomacy on the Western side.

“I don't think the Biden administration necessarily thinks of the Trump administration's withdrawal from the nuclear agreement as a mistake, but if there's no good faith effort to say we're going to come back, we want to get back in this agreement, we want to be adults here if they want to just draw a distinction between the previous administration themselves, and then that would help relations,” Goodrum said.

“In the absence of that kind of mature negotiating and mature exchange then, Iran will turn to a country like China, which has always, as far as I know, respected its sovereignty and respected its status,” he added.

The senior editor of China Daily told Press TV that it was important for countries to make their own agreements on their own terms and to engage with one another as equals.

“This can only be a good thing that we see, we see countries, engaging with one another, making agreements, having dialogue, doing so without interference from a great power, a superpower that wants to impose its will on the rest of the world,” he said.

“You know the so-called rules-based order is really dictated by one nation, one country or a small group of countries over the rest of the world,” he underlined. “But China's foreign policy has been about mutual respect about multilateralism as opposed to unilateralism.”

US media warn of Washington's declining power after Iran-China strategic partnership deal

American news outlets warn of the US’s declining influence as they cover a historic 25-year comprehensive strategic partnership agreement between Iran and China.

Asked about the reaction of the mainstream media to the deal, Goodrum agreed with Press TV that there was a high level of misinformation and disinformation on China on the media since Beijing was “trying to build this kind of multilateralism, international way of doing things as opposed to the unipolar, unilateral way of doing things.”

“They are determined to paint this in a certain way that is not really lined up with the truth,” Goodrum said of the Western media.

“I think the best thing to do would be to set a good example by continuing to engage responsibly maturely rationally and not necessarily lashing out the same way that the US press does, and the Western press does with their genteel kind of attacks, just continuing to not necessarily ignore, but providing all the example anyone needs by just continuing to engage responsibly,” he said.

“People will realize what a responsible country looks like and what an irresponsible country looks like and they will understand, which they would prefer to have at the table with them, as opposed to what the situation has been like for the past over well over a century now,” he added.

Biden’s concern on Iran-China deal justified as it accelerates US decline: Shamkhani

US President Joe Biden is justified to be concerned about the Iran-China partnership agreement, says Iran’s top security official.

Iran and the US are at loggerheads over the fate of the 2015 nuclear agreement Tehran struck with six world powers, from which the US withdrew in May 2018 and slapped harsh economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic under a so-called maximum pressure policy.

Biden has pledged to rejoin the nuclear deal, formally called the JCPOA, and repeal his predecessor’s maximum pressure policy, but he has failed so far to honor either of his promises.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.ir