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| New World Order? China,-EU Russia |
Like the rest of the world, Beijing was forced to look on idly as US President Donald Trump ordered the killing of
Iranian General Qassem Soleimani
last Friday. Even the Iraqi government in Baghdad, which considers Iran
an enemy, called on the US to withdraw. On Tuesday night,
Iran responded by launching missile attacks on US bases in Iraq.
For
now, the situation seems to be, if not de-escalated, at least not
re-escalated. But the stakes in the Middle East are also high for China
now. As the country with the second-highest oil consumption in the
world, it sources a good 50% of its imports from the region. Although
Iran is ranked only seventh in the list of oil exporters to China, it
has become a close economic and diplomatic partner of Beijing's in
recent years.
China is also Iran's largest trading partner. China's
investments in Iran are also rising steadily, amounting to over $27
billion (€24.3 billion) between 2005 and 2018. Last summer, the two
governments agreed that China would invest $280 billion in Iran's energy
sector and $120 billion in its infrastructure and manufacturing sector
over the next 25 years. In return, Beijing would receive cheaper oil as
well as other benefits. The idea is also that the transactions be
conducted in Chinese yuan or Russian rubles, as Russian companies will
also be involved.
Iran is playing an increasingly important role for
China's "New Silk Road." One
of the most important axes of the geostrategic project of the century
leads from China to Turkey, via Pakistan and Iran, and then
from Istanbul to the Greek port of Piraeus.
Not far from the Pakistan-Iranian border and the Strait of Hormuz,
through which 40% of the world's oil transports pass, lies the deep-sea
port of Gwadar. In future, the idea is that this be used to transport
oil and goods directly to China via an economic corridor in Pakistan.
Pakistan shares a common border with both Iran and China, while goods
still have to cross three Central Asian countries to get to China via
the northern route.
Note EU-Digest: China, the EU and Russia for some time now are
starting to cooperate on trade and technology much closer and in the
process are by-passing the US at an ever increasing rate, specially
following the election of Donald Trump.
Read
more: Sieren’s China: Donald Trump′s risky short-sightedness | Asia| An
in-depth look at news from across the continent | DW | 09.01.2020
