Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi held talks this Thursday (Feb. 5) with China’s Deputy Foreign Minister Miao Deyu and Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Bin, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters today. “China has maintained communication with other parties on relevant issues and hopes that all parties will resolve differences through dialogue and jointly keep the region peaceful and stable,” Lin reported.
According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s readout on the meeting, the Chinese officials assured Iran that “China has consistently advocated for the peaceful resolution of the Iran nuclear issue through political and diplomatic means, and opposes threats of force and pressure through sanctions,” Global Times reported. “China supports Iran’s legitimate right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and takes note of Iran’s repeated reaffirmations that it has no intention of developing nuclear weapons. China will continue to work with the international community to promote the proper resolution of the Iran nuclear issue.”
Tehran Times adds that Gharibabadi briefed the Chinese officials on developments in Iran as well as issues related to Iran’s nuclear program. He stressed “that Tehran remains committed to resolving issues through diplomatic channels and would like to move forward with negotiations based on fairness and justice,” and praised China’s role “in maintaining regional and international peace and stability.” The Tehran Times reported that for his part, Deputy Foreign Minister Miao had noted that China closely monitors developments in Iran and “underlined that China is opposed to unilateral bullying and coercion in international relations and interference in other countries’ internal affairs."The principles of the UN Charter must be upheld, Miao emphasized.
There is more to this diplomacy than is in the public eye. Iranian news agency IRNA reported before Gharibabadi left that he was carrying a message from his President, Masoud Pezeshkian, for President Xi Jinping, and that before that, on Feb. 3, Gharibabadi had also met with Russia’s ambassador to Tehran to discuss “developments of shared concern.”
While in Beijing, Gharibabadi also met with the Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Nurlan Yermekbayev. From the SCO’s report, the two discussed the potential for implementing various initiatives Iran proposes the SCO take up “in the fields of transport, economy, energy and other sectors,” as well as ideas on how to strengthen the functioning of this major Eurasian organization. Yermekbayev spoke of the importance of this year’s SCO summit, which will be held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in the autumn. This is the 25th anniversary of the founding of the association of 10 full members, 15 Dialogue Partners, and two Observer states, and the theme adopted for the meeting is “25 years of the SCO: Together for a Stable World, Development, and Prosperity.”
