Iran FM: Partnership deal with China to pursue win-win approach

XINHUA
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) elbow bumps with Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, in Wuxi, China's eastern province of Jiangsu, on January 14, 2022.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said the 25-year Comprehensive Strategic Partnership agreement signed with China will be a “win-win” game for the two countries as it serves both sides’ interests.

“In this agreement, we have included anything that is in line with the interests of the two nations. Tehran and Beijing will benefit from the deal, which will today enter its implementation phase,” he told China Global Television Network (CGTN), according to Press TV.

“Tehran-Beijing relations and bonds are expanding in all areas and the 25-year [Comprehensive] Strategic Partnership and cooperation will pursue a win-win approach.”

The agreement, which was signed in Tehran in March 2021, is meant to strengthen longstanding economic and political alliance between Iran and China and is viewed as a milestone in their bilateral relations.

Heading a high-ranking politico-economic delegation, Iran’s top diplomat traveled to China on Thursday at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.

Amir-Abdollahian told CGTN that he had discussed with Chinese officials the implementation of the partnership deal as well as important regional and international developments and the Vienna talks between Iran and the remaining five parties to the 2015 nuclear accord, including China.

He said the Chinese envoy to the Vienna talks, Wang Qun, was one of the active parties in the diplomatic process.

The Chinese negotiator, Amir-Abdollahian added, played a constructive role in supporting Iran’s nuclear rights and underlined the need for the removal of oppressive U.S. sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Common enemy

On Sunday, Ahmad Amirabadi-Farahani, the chairman of Iran-China parliamentary friendship group, hailed the strategic deal as “a regional harmony factor” in Asia, adding that the pact will lead to more Chinese investments in Iran and the expansion of regional contacts.

“The United States is seeking to deal blows to the economies of Iran and China, but this common enemy, itself, can strengthen the agreement between Iran and China and provide them with a strategy to overcome American mischief in the region,” the lawmaker stressed.

Iran’s enhanced ties with the East “will make the United States and the West feel endangered, and this will make them retreat in the [Vienna] talks. This will, in fact, set a deadline for the West in negotiations with Iran to clarify the state of removing the sanctions as soon as possible”.