Iran and China (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2:International Relations 
Prelims level: Sino-Iranian Partnership
Mains level: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests

Context: 

• Despite widespread international attention and much political excitement in India, the Iran-China deal worth $400 billion is an ambitious plan, not a confirmed deal. 
• The plan has been under consideration for long, but remained unimplemented. On the face of it, it makes sense to both. 

Helplessness of Tehran:

• Tehran is desperate to break out of the American sanctions’ chokehold. 
• Tehran’s hope that Europe will defy the Trump Administration and prevent Iran’s commercial isolation, has evaporated. 
• Moscow can certainly create political space in Tehran’s fight with Washington, but it can’t bring the scale of economic engagement that Beijing is capable of. 
• China has no difficulty in recognising that an all-encompassing strategic partnership with Iran could make China the dominant power of the Gulf region.
• Sino-Iranian Partnership:
• The breadth and depth of the envisaged Sino-Iranian partnership is indeed spectacular. 
• It involves China’s massive investments to modernise the entire expanse of Iran’s economy — from roads and railways to ports, and from telecommunication and digital infrastructure to the oil industry. 
• It is also reported to include a significant expansion of defence and security cooperation between the two countries.
• This includes the construction of a strategic port at the mouth of the strategic Hormuz Strait, through which the Gulf countries export their oil to the world. 
• In return for its investments, China is said to get preferential access to Iranian oil production. 

Domestic backlash:

• While the proposed deal offers many long-term benefits to Iran and China, it also carries big political risks. 
• Within xenophobicIran, there is strong political opposition to handing over the economic keys of the proud nation to a foreign power. 
• Tehran knows that Beijing will be ruthless in taking advantage of Iran’s current weakness. 
• Sacrificing Iran’s strategic autonomy will be too much of a price for the Chinese economic lifeline. 
• Iran is also aware that the proposed deal with China will accentuatethe confrontation with the US. 
• Beijing also knows Iran is not pliablePakistan and will not simply accept China’s harsh terms for the bailout. 
• China is also aware that pushing ahead with the Iran deal at this juncture will add another element to the deepening political contestation with the US. 

Conclusion:

• Having teased out the prospects for a historic agreement, Tehran and Beijing are likely to wait till the outcome of the US presidential elections in November. 
• Iran and China hope that Trump’s defeat will encourage Washington to reconsider its current hostilitytowards Tehran and Beijing. 
• If Trump gets re-elected, Tehran and Beijing might decide there is no option but to take some risks. 
• In the interim, the proposed deal helps the Biden campaign argue that President Trump has foolishly pushed Iran into China’s lap.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1). With reference to the All India Tiger Estimation 2018, consider the following statements:

1. The All India Tiger Estimation done quadrennially is steered by the National Tiger Conservation Authority with technical backstopping from the Wildlife Institute of India and implemented by State Forest Departments and partners. 
2. It is the world’s largest camera trap wildlife survey. 

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: C

Mains Questions:

Q.1). What is the Chabahar-Zahedan project? What is the significance for India? What are key concerns behind Iran’s decision to drop India?