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Article Excerpt
China and Iran are emerging powers with increasingly significant political and economic relations that have regional and global dimensions. In this article, we set out to explore the historical roots, evolution and development of this relationship with a particular emphasis on the period since the Islamic revolution of 1979. Elsewhere, we have examined the role of factors such as the arms trade and technology transfers, and how they have shaped Sino-Iranian relations. However, in light of present economic and political trends, it is the pursuit of energy security and supply that is emerging as a more pressing concern for both states.
We will investigate several central questions. First, what are the incentives for these two otherwise ideologically opposed regimes to forge an increasingly expanding and cordial relationship--especially in the context of declining American political influence in the Middle East--and what does each side gain from this relationship? Second, how much weight is given to economic interests, especially the trade in energy, in facilitating closer relations between the two states? What are the dynamics of petropolitics in this relationship? Finally, in light of the different bilateral relationships the two countries have with the United States--China's expanding trade and political relations versus Iran's acrimonious relations--what are the limitations of their partnership? With respect to this point, we are interested in addressing the different circumstances in which China might perceive its relations with an increasingly isolated and nuclear-driven Iran as a political liability, and under what conditions Iran would be compelled to abandon its "Eastern strategy" and pull away from China. Both Iran and China's regional as well as global political ambitions pose a challenge to their bilateral relationship. Thus, we analyze a variety of circumstances under which their interests may clash, and we weigh them against the strategic objectives motivating their cooperation.
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
As civilizations with deep historical roots, rich cultural traditions and illustrious imperial pasts, Iran and China have a basis for psychological identification. The fact that the two countries have no history of war and conflict, and that both have suffered the humiliating experience of neocolonialism, accentuates their civilizational and political identification. This deep sense of historical identity and national pride may partially explain why Iran and China have experienced several revolutions in the twentieth century in which the themes of anti-imperialism and nationalist self-assertion played a prominent ideological role.
The historical ties and encounters between the Chinese and Persian empires go back to the contacts between the Hans and the Parthians in 139 BCE, which culminated in diplomatic and trade relations. The trade route between the two empires--the "Silk Road"--linked China to Central Asia and the Middle East. According to John Garver, the influence of the Persian Empire on ancient China was considerable:
Large numbers of Persians, and later Arabs, settled in Guangzhou and Hanoi (then a part of the Chinese empire). The highly Persianized kingdom of Kushan (a post-Bactarian, post-Yuezhi state established in the Oxus region) became the main center for the transmission of Buddhism to China in the second through the fourth centuries C.E. The first translator of the Buddhist sutras into Chinese was a Parthian (Persian) prince from Kushan. Other Persian and Indian Buddhist missionaries arrived in China via Kushan. Zoroastrianism, Nestorian Christianity and Manichaeism were additional Persian influences on China during the sixth and seventh centuries. Persian influences on Tang China were extensive. Magic routines from Persia were highly appreciated in China. Persian poetry influenced China's great Tang Dynasty's poetry. The game of polo came from Persia and found great favor in Chinese imperial courts. The ritual dances performed in Zoroastrian "fire temples" roused Chinese interest. Persian cuisine found favor in China and greatly influenced Chinese cooking. In the words of one authority, "There was (in Tang China) a great vogue especially in the first half of the eighth century for Iranian objects and customs of all kinds: food stuffs, clothing, furniture, music, and dancing." (1)
These contacts increased, particularly after the Mongol conquest of both countries in the thirteenth century. There were regular diplomatic missions between Yuan China and Il-Khanate Persia. Chinese astronomical knowledge, printing and paper money were transmitted to Persia and the Near East, while Persian and Arab medicine, alchemy, pharmacology, mathematics and geometry were transmitted to China. (2) Within this rich context of mutual cultural influences and cooperation, contemporary Sino-Iranian relations have mutated and evolved. The leaders of both nations consciously evoke this historical memory as a source of strength and legitimacy for the continuation of a relationship that has been beneficial to both sides. The fact that the two empires had no history of war and conflict left the slate clean, helping to build a mutually beneficial relationship on that foundation.
In the twentieth century, diplomatic contacts and trade relations expanded considerably. While relations between the two countries were restrained, in the aftermath of the Chinese revolution of 1949 relations began to improve by the 1960s. The Communist party's ascendance to power in China coincided with the CIA-sponsored coup d'etat of 1953 that overthrew the reformist-nationalist leader Mossadeq, restoring the shah to power and bringing Iran into a close alliance with the United States and its West European allies. Thus, Iran was drawn into the Cold War orbit of the United States with its regional and global policy of containing Communism. The shah, however, had his own reasons to keep Mao's government at a distance. Chinese and Soviet support of Iran's Tudeh party--a pro-Moscow Communist party that was committed to the overthrow of the shah's regime--made Tehran a willing partner in the alliance against Moscow and Peking, and the shah supported the United States and South Korea during the Korean War. Following the U.S. lead, Iran also opposed China's admission to the United Nations and sought closer ties with the nationalist government in Taiwan. Nevertheless, "unofficial" trade relations between the two countries continued in the 1950s. The total value of China's trade with Iran from 1950-59 amounted to $2.5 million. (3)
By the 1960s, however, China-Iran relations went through substantial changes. After the Sino-Soviet political rift, China was looking to counter U.S. as well as Soviet hegemony in the Third World. Having lost the support of its former ally, China was now looking for alliances. Hence, with the emergence of peaceful coexistence and, later, detente in U.S.-Soviet relations in the 1960s, the centrality of Iran's strategic value as an anti-Soviet outpost diminished in the eyes of U.S. policy makers. By 1964, the U.S. decision to sell arms to Iran, rather than provide it with military grants, convinced the shah that he had to assume a more "independent" foreign-policy posture.
By 1965, Iran began to abstain from voting on China's UN membership rather than oppose it. While Iran continued to support the anti-communist Baghdad pact (CENTO) and remained suspicious of China's support of the Tudeh party, several important political developments encouraged rapprochement. With the escalation of China's anti-Soviet campaign in the late 1960s, the shah, who was chiefly concerned with the threat of Iran's neighbor to the north, found a potential ally in China. Regionally, the defeat of Arab armies by Israel in 1967 enhanced Iran's strategic position in the region and rendered the shah more assertive. He recognized the...
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