ANALYSIS - Potential China-Iran Partnership May Result In 'Geopolitical Shift' In Middle East, Asia
URDU POINT NEWS
…Meanwhile, Guy Burton, a visiting fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre and an adjunct professor of international relations at Vesalius College in Brussels, believes that there is a risk that extensive media coverage may exaggerate the importance of the China-Iran agreement.
"Given the current context of US maximum pressure and unilateral sanctions, it's in Iran's interests to show that it has partners and is not internationally isolated. So the agreement with China as the world's second largest economy is useful in challenging the US that it's not a pariah," he told Sputnik.
He also recalled that the potential Iran-China agreement was aiming at future cooperation, "which doesn't really help Iran right now."
Burton believes that China's priorities remain at home and in its immediate neighborhood in East Asia and the South China Sea.
"Complications in the Middle East are not something that it wants to prioritise. That has been a consistent feature of its relationship in the region, which has meant that countries like Iran can't rely too much on China. Moreover, China attaches greater weight to its relations with the US, so if relations start to improve then that could mean the current bonhomie between Iran and China being abandoned," he suggested.
According to the expert, while China has a strong economic presence in the Middle East, it's not clear that it seeks to become a security provider or guarantor. That was the US role and China did well "without becoming involved in that respect," he added.
"It's also worth keeping in mind that China has been cultivating good relations on all sides in the Middle East and especially the richest countries in the Gulf, like Saudi Arabia and the UAE," the expert argued.
Both these countries have issues with Iran, but China has tried to avoid taking sides, he concluded.
