China Develops Relations with Iran, Syria, Russia

On October 14, SouthFront: Analysis & Intelligence stated that “China actively prepares for the participating in the Russian anti-ISIS operation“. As all our conclusions, this was grounded on the lots of work. Nonetheless, time to time, readers express doubts about our conclusions or even argue that we provide “wishful thinking” or kind of “patriotic believes” [SF’s editor: LOL]. So, we’ve decided to show a little of  our analyses’ backstage. Let’s check how the “alternative” anti-ISIS coalition including at least Russia, Iran, China, Syria is arising. 

On September 15, Iran’s top diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif arrived Beijing for talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The main goals of the meeting was the hard-fought deal limits Tehran’s nuclear programme. After the meeting, Wang noted energy was a “traditional area” of cooperation between Beijing and Tehran, and their overall relationship “will have new prospects after the comprehensive Iran nuclear deal is implemented”. According to the Chinese media, the officials also discussed cooperation in infrastructure projects and security efforts in the Middle East.

Both China and Iran (as Russia) systematically argue that the Syrian and Yemeni crisises could be solved only through the diplomatic solution, but the US activity complexifies this process. The officials emphasized an importance of the economic partnership between Iran and China. Separately, Mohammad Javad Zarif noted that official Tehran will wait a return visit in next months.

On October 12, Syrian Presidential Political and Media Advisor Bouthaina Shaaban arrived Beijing. She met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. According to the Syrian media, Shaaban briefed Wang on the crisis in Syria and the latest political and military developments, particularly in terms of the Russian-Syrian cooperation in counter-terrorism. On October 13, Bouthaina Shaaban held a press conference. During it, she stated that Western media falsify information about the situation in Syria and expressed gratitude for the diplomatic Chinese support in the UN. Separately, she noted that the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces (VKO) shown high effectiveness in Syria which allowed the pro-government forces to start offensive actions.

The main goal of the Shaaban’s visit was to restore the economic and military cooperation between two countries. Syria has been seeking to buy Chinese military equipment: VN-1, PF-98 and others. An important fact was China decided to provide a humanitarian assistance to Syria (35 million yuan) after the visit.

On October 7, Sun Jianguo, Chinese deputy chief of General Staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, arrived Moscow to hold talks with his Russian counterparts over the topic of countering ISIS in Syria. Jianguo noted that the Russian airstrikes in Syria killed 82 militants of the “East Turkestan” terrorist organization banned in China. On October 14, Sun Jianguo visited Tehran to discuss the possibility of Chinese warships to use the Iranian waters to shell the ISIS positions in Syria and Iraq with ballistic missiles. They will move through the Inran’s air space.

This is only a little part of the processed data. However, event it’s enough to conclude that Syria, Iran and China are preparing to joint efforts against ISIS. The possible reason of this is success of the Russian efforts in Syria. Moreover, it seems the Chinese and Iranian diplomats believe that a joint use of force against ISIS can’t be resisted by the US-led block’s diplomatic, economic or military means. Separately, the Middle East countries have been seeking to expand their military and economic cooperation with China.