Iran–China Cooperation in the Silk Road Economic Belt: From Strategic Understanding to Operational Understanding

• Author: Hamidreza Azizi,Mohsen Shariatinia
• Date: 01 September 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/cwe.12213
• Published date: 01 September 2017

©2017 Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

China & World Economy / 46–61, Vol. 25, No. 5, 2017

46

*Mohsen Shariatinia (corresponding author), Assistant Professor, Regional Studies Research Institute, Shahid

Beheshti University, Iran. Email: m_shariatinia@sbu.ac.ir; Hamidreza Azizi, Assistant Professor, Regional

Studies Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, Iran. Email: hr_azizi@sbu.ac.ir.

Iran–China Cooperation in the Silk Road Economic

Belt: From Strategic Understanding to

Operational Understanding

Mohsen Shariatinia, Hamidreza Azizi*

Abstract

Iran served as a bridge in the ancient Silk Road, connecting the East and the West. It

also has great potential to play an important role in the new Silk Road. The present study

analyzes the factors aecting Iran–China cooperation in the context of the Belt and Road

Initiative at the strategic and operational levels. This article shows that, at the strategic

level, Iran defines this project as an opportunity to improve its status in the world

economy, expanding its room to manoeuvre in the international arena and developing

its ties with China, a rising great power. At the operational level, the opportunities

and challenges for Iran–China cooperation could be summarized as pertaining to ve

realms within the Silk Road Economic Belt Initiative: policy coordination, facilitation

of connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people bonds.

The present study asserts that the main opportunity for cooperation between the

two countries lies in facilitating connectivity and that the key challenge is financial

integration.

Key words: China, infrastructural ties, Iran, regional integration, Silk Road Economic

Belt

JEL codes: F15, F36, O53

I. Introduction

The international system has once again entered an era of transition of power, in which

the rising powers will have an increasing role in inuencing and shaping international

agendas. There is no doubt that, among the rising powers, China is the most important

and also the most innovative. China’s actions and initiatives increasingly affect the

international political economy. The Silk Road Economic Belt is one of China’s most

©2017 Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Iran–China Cooperation in the BRI 47

important initiatives, and has led to debate by think-tanks and among decision-making

circles of various countries. Many experts have discussed the necessity of the Belt and

Road Initiative (BRI) for China’s transition to a “new normal” status (Wang, 2016),

while others have analyzed the issue from a geopolitical viewpoint and in relation to

China’s power projection (Yu, 2016).

However, an issue that has somehow gained less attention in the debate on this

subject is the role of other countries in this initiative and how they could cooperate with

China. In other words, most of the published literature addresses the reasons why such

an initiative has been presented by China and the obvious and less obvious motivations

behind it. The issue of the role of Iran, one of the countries involved in this initiative,

and its opportunities and challenges regarding cooperation with China have remained

undiscussed. This is despite the fact that, according to Chinese President Xi Jinping

(2016), Iran could play an important role in this project . Therefore, this article attempts

to answer a key question: Which factors aect Iran–China cooperation in this initiative

at the strategic and operational levels?

To answer this question, this article rst takes a look at the BRI within the context

of the historical and contemporary interactions between Iran and China, and then

analyzes this issue from the perspective of strategic and operational aspects. At the

operational level, the five main priorities raised by the BRI are regarded as the main

indicators according to which it will be possible to strengthen the development of ties

between the two countries. This article shows that, at the strategic level, Iran denes

this project as an opportunity to improve its status in the world economy, expanding its

room to maneuver in the international arena and developing its ties with China, a rising

great power, and there is a similar willingness on the Chinese side to develop ties with

Iran. However, at the operational level, the dynamic is dierent and the two countries

urgently need to reach an understanding on their common interests relating to the BRI.

II. The Silk Road within the Context of Iran–China Interactions

To explain the factors affecting Iran–China cooperation in the BRI, it is necessary

to look to the past and discuss the status of this initiative within the context of the

relationship between the two countries. The relationship between Iran and China is both

old and new. It is old because both countries are two inheritors of the world’s oldest

civilizations and have interacted with each other since ancient times. The main symbol

of these historical ties is the ancient Silk Road.

However, this relationship is also new, because ocial relations between the two