September 23, 2014
High-Profile Naval Visit Belies China’s Low-Profile Approach to Iran
Two Chinese warships paid a port call to Iran over the weekend, in advance of a four-day joint naval exercise with the Iranian navy that was reportedly to begin Monday. The visit highlights China’s ties with Iran, at a time when the outcome of international negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program remains uncertain.
As those negotiations resume, China seems to be the least concerned of all the parties about their outcome. This apparent indifference is understandable: Iran is physically distant from China; has not threatened China directly or through supporting terrorism targeting China; and is not China’s only source of Middle Eastern oil. In sum, Iran is not a vital national interest for China, making Beijing’s Iran policy fluid, flexible and susceptible to outside influence.
China does not want Iran to obtain or even pursue nuclear weapons, as doing so could raise the prospect of a war in the Middle East that would threaten China’s energy supplies and decrease its trade and investment opportunities. Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons could also lead additional countries beyond the Persian Gulf to seek them, including countries of greater security concern to Beijing, like Japan and South Korea. However, China opposes using force or severe sanctions to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapons capacity.
More from CNAS
-
The Ever-Changing, Unchanged Defense Acquisition System
Commentary
Introduction The defense acquisition system has been and continues to be in a period of great change, both in terms of the laws and processes that govern it and the private se...
By Susanna V. Blume
-
Are Defense Firms Showering Their Shareholders with Too Much Money?
Podcast
In early January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order threatening bans on defense contractors paying dividends or buying their stock back. CNAS program director S...
By Stacie Pettyjohn
-
America Must Salvage Its Relationship With India
Commentary
The longer the current crisis lasts, the harder it will be to restore the relationship and the more likely it is that the two countries will lose an entire generation of progr...
By Richard Fontaine & Lisa Curtis
-
Defense & Aerospace Air Power Podcast: Global View
Podcast
In a week when airpower news came from every angle, Becca Wasser, CNAS adjunct senior fellow, was on top of it all. She leads defense research at Bloomberg Economics, and we c...
By Becca Wasser
