Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Major Chinese - Iranian Arms Deals In The Works?

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani (L) shakes hands with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping before the opening ceremony of the fourth Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) summit in Shanghai May 21, 2014.

Joel Wuthnow, National Interest: Are Chinese Arms About to Flood Into Iran?

Ahead of Xi’s visit to Tehran, Sino-Iranian military cooperation looks to expand.

China is often regarded as one of the prime beneficiaries of the Iran nuclear deal, signed in July 2015 with the P5+1 countries. Under the deal, Iran will limit its uranium enrichment and make other changes to its nuclear program in exchange for the termination of sanctions. This potential opening could provide Chinese state-owned energy companies a chance to increase their involvement with Iran’s oil and natural gas industries, and Iran could become a more important export market for a range of Chinese products. Beijing may also assist Tehran in building infrastructure as part of the massive Eurasian development project known as “One Belt, One Road,” as well as offer financing through the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Many agreements are likely to be announced during Chinese president Xi Jinping’s inaugural visit to Iran, planned for late January.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: China is now Iran's #1 trading partner .... China Becomes Iran’s Largest Trade Partner (Washington Free Beacon). And while arms and weapons sales have not been on the agenda between the two countries recently, Chinese Preisdent Xi's visit to Iran at the end of this month is going to open a lot of doors .... and selling arms is going to be on the top of that list .... Report: Iran Ramping Up Military Purchases from Russia, China (Washington Free Beacon).

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