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Monday, May 11, 2009

A Global Model

By Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran seeks balanced economic and commercial ties with China.
Addressing a conference on Iran-China trade and investment opportunities in Tehran on Sunday, Mottaki said China is Iran’s top trading partner in Asia, adding that the two countries should work together to advance bilateral trade and minimize the negative impacts of the current global economic and financial downturn.
Mottaki also urged the participating Chinese officials and traders to set up a new strategy to deepen mutual cooperation, facilitate commerce, establish joint regulatory and consultative bodies, and remove banking and financial obstacles.
Close to 400 Iranian and Chinese economic officials and trade representatives attended the one-day conference which was aimed at promoting Iranian trade and investment opportunities to Chinese investors. The volume of Iran-China trade exchange exceeded $21 billion in 2008. The figure is expected to top $30 billion in 2009.
The rapidly growing relationship between Iran and China has begun to irritate Washington and its allies as China now gets at least 14 percent of its imported crude oil from Iran, making it China's largest supplier and the source of as much as $7 billion worth of oil this year. Dozens of Chinese companies are also engaged in several industrial and energy development projects in Iran.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said earlier that Beijing would reject US-orchestrated efforts for any new anti-Iran resolution as any sanctions, particularly unilateral sanctions, will do no good to resolve any dispute between Tehran and the West.
The United States, however, renewed its own futile sanctions against Iranian banks and industries last month, in part out of frustration over stalled efforts to pass another illegal UN resolution. But the new Tehran-Beijing relationship - along with Iran’s successful international diplomacy and cooperation - helped delay or dilute any further illegal move, because the two regional powers share a strategic vision and both are determined to find ways to contain US power and a unipolar world.
Just as importantly, China's insatiable appetite for energy has cemented the relationship and its oil consumption is expected to grow by about 6 percent over the next two years. In other words, Iran has become the engineer of China's economic growth. It may not be like Saudi Arabia is to the US economy, but it is close.
To sum up, Iran and China share deep-rooted ties along with ample of commonalties in different fields and those at the international levels. Such constructive relations could be turned into an exemplary model for other nations across the globe.