He said nowadays, long-term political-economic cooperation is a common mechanism for developing bilateral and regional relations. “One of the issues that has been much discussed in recent days is the Comprehensive Document of 25-year strategic cooperation between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the People’s Republic of China,” added the top diplomat.
“Iran’s strategy is based on expanding and strengthening its friendly and constructive mutual relations with others while denying any eastern or western hegemony in such relations,” he said.
Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini said in this context, senior officials of the two countries lay the cornerstone of relations by planning their long-term relations over a 25-year period.
He noted this idea was put forward during the visit of the President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping to Tehran in 2016 that was later welcomed by both sides.
The ambassador said the overall framework of the plan has been developed over the years, and details are being reviewed by officials from the two countries, which have not yet been finalized.
Too many baseless rumors about long-term cooperation between #Iran and #China. The subject of “25 years long term cooperation”, is a very public issue that even mentioned in paragraph sixth of the joint statement after H.E. #XiJinPing visit to Iran in 2016. pic.twitter.com/1D9e5ZLWAY
— Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini (@HossainiSma) July 15, 2020
“Iran-China Comprehensive Partnership is a clear roadmap and a guideline for basing future relations between the two major countries in the world,” he said.
The envoy went on to say that bearing in mind the importance of China as one of the world’s top economic powers in the near future and Iran, as one of the significant powers in the West Asian region, the implementation of the comprehensive plan can come useful in achieving common goals of complementary relations, independence of traditional and hegemonic powers and addressing common interests.
He said, fortunately, bilateral relations with the People’s Republic of China have been moving forward in recent years, and the two countries have reached a considerable level of coordination and concordance in the international and political arenas.
Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini said: Simultaneously concurrent with the development of strategic relations between Tehran and Beijing, the enemies of the promotion of these relations are propounding false interpretations that are nearer to rumors than facts.
“As we can see, these baseless rumors about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor are constantly being raised by some Western officials and the media with an intentional focus on the secret nature of this cooperation agenda while rejecting this rumor, with an intentional focus on the secret nature of this cooperation agenda,” said the ambassador.
Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini strongly believed this cooperation is a very public issue and even in the sixth paragraph of the joint statement published during the Chinese President’s visit to Iran in 2016, the parties explicitly expressed their desire to conclude a comprehensive document for 25 years of cooperation.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran, in accordance with its constitutional principles, faces no barrier in concluding comprehensive and long-term agreements with countries in the East and the West,” he said.
He, however, added when some foreign governments were found reluctant in their relations with Iran and needed others’ permission for their even normal interactions, for sure they won’t be capable of planning and implementing such long- term cooperation contracts.
“Iran’s offer for cooperation was a general one that was perceived by Chinese who have shown independence in developing its relations with Iran and has not tied the promotion of relations to the advice of third countries,” noted Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini.
He was of the view undoubtedly, Belt-Road initiative (BRI) and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) are suitable platforms for the development of regional cooperation, especially for the three countries of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the People’s Republic of China, which can be a unique model of development not only for us but as a model of cooperation for other countries in our region.
