The discreet role of China in the negotiations on the Iranian nuclear

Published on : 01/18/2022 – 08:54

The discussions on the Iranian nuclear enter in the hard. The Iranians set the scene on Friday, January 14, just before a weekend of consultations by their negotiators in Tehran, claiming to have reached the “stage of details, the most difficult part of the negotiations”, according to Irna, the official Iranian news agency.

The talks between the P4+1 group (China, France, United Kingdom, Russia and Germany), the European Union, Iran and the United States, present indirectly, therefore resumed on Monday in Vienna, with more more at stake than ever. And to approach this delicate phase of negotiations, Tehran can count on China. Behind the scenes, the Chinese negotiator Wang Qun, more discreet than his Russian counterpart Mikhail Ulyanov fond of tweets and statements to the press, indeed plays a key role.

In Chinese media, the bow-tie diplomat has repeatedly stressed China’s “unique and constructive” role in these talks and its work with all parties to encourage the resumption of the negotiation process between the Americans and the Iranians – and this, at most quick.

Thus, putting aside tensions with Washington over trade rivalries, or even disagreements over Taiwan and the China Sea, Wang Qun negotiated for hours with the American special envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, in Vienna, working to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal.

A strategic rapprochement between China and Iran

“The Chinese have every interest in the agreement being signed as soon as possible to ensure the diversification of their oil supply, but also because Iran is a geopolitical partner”, explains to France 24 Jean-François Di Meglio, China specialist and president of Asia Centre.

“The Chinese had already played an important role during the negotiations that led to the 2015 agreement”, also recalls Thierry Coville, specialist in Iran, contacted by France 24. This was revealed by the former head of Iranian diplomacy at the time, Mohammad Javad Zarif, in a book published just before handing over to the government of the ultraconservative Ebrahim Raïssi, in August 2021. In this long story presenting the backstage of the two years of negotiations having led to the 2015 agreement, Mohammad Javad Zarif writes that each time these reached an impasse, the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs intervened, presented a new initiative and managed to relaunch the talks.

But in recent months, relations between Beijing and Tehran have taken a new step with the signing of a historic 25-year partnership covering areas as varied as energy, security, infrastructure and communications. In addition to the delivery of oil at a reduced price, this strategic agreement, the implementation of which began on January 15, also provides for security assistance from China to Iran, in particular through the delivery of military equipment. “China has signed very few partnerships of this type. This is a real diplomatic alliance”, specifies Jean-François Di Meglio.

For Beijing, which continues to import Iranian oil despite the risk of being fined by the US Treasury, a lifting of Washington’s sanctions on trade with Iran would be a boon. Before the American withdrawal from the agreement in 2018, China imported nearly 10% of its oil from Iran and had invested in infrastructure to buy larger volumes. According to Jean-François Di Meglio, “the Chinese are very interested in Iranian crude because their refineries are suitable for processing this heavy oil which is used as fuel to supply their power plants, their heating or to run their trucks”.

Beijing’s oil diplomacy in the Middle East

In addition to the financial aspect, the rapprochement with Iran allows China to counterbalance American actions and to affirm its growing diplomatic power in the region, indicates Jean-François Di Meglio: “The Middle East was not a major element of Chinese diplomacy. But that has changed over the past five years with the Iraqi turn. After the war, China seized the opportunity to resume the exploitation of Iraqi oil fields, which it is in the process of handing over in good standing.”

At the UN, Beijing also weighs all its votes on decisions in the region. First with regard to Iran, but also on Syria, for which it aligns itself almost systemically with the Russian positions favorable to Bashar al-Assad.

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In Beijing too, for the past few weeks, Chinese diplomacy has been operating at full speed. Between January 10 and 14, Foreign Minister Wang Yi received no less than five from its counterparts in the region. The heads of diplomacy of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and Iran, but also the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), marched alternately in the Chinese capital.

And these visits are not unrelated to the final phase of negotiations on Iranian nuclear power since they reassure the Gulf countries on the issue, while reaffirming economic alliances. It is also an opportunity for China to show Washington that it now plays a key role in a region where the Americans are losing influence.