China gives green light to Iran’s membership in Shanghai Organization

A Chinese official, referring to his country’s approval of Iran’s membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, stated that this issue will be discussed at the upcoming meeting of the organization. Russia was in favor of Iran’s membership in this organization, while China was opposed to it.

According to Reuters news agency, a senior Chinese diplomat on Monday (June 5, 2017) announced his country’s approval of Iran’s membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and said that Iran’s accession will be discussed at the organization’s meeting this week.

In its meeting last year (2016), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, despite Russia’s support for the Islamic Republic’s request to join the organization, refrained from accepting Iran’s membership; a matter that suggested a possible disagreement between China and Russia on this issue.

Iran has long been waiting for membership in the Shanghai Organization. Russia’s argument was that with the lifting of sanctions against Tehran, there was no longer any obstacle to Iran’s membership in this organization.

According to Li Hui, assistant to China’s foreign minister, Iran, as an observer member of the Shanghai Organization, has for a long time “actively participated” in the organization’s activities and taken positive steps toward its operations.

China’s assistant foreign minister, on the eve of the Shanghai Organization meeting in the city of Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, where Xi Jinping, president of China, will also participate, told reporters: “China welcomes and supports Iran’s desire for permanent membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.”

Li Hui added: “I think during the meeting, all parties will carefully review Iran’s membership on the basis of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s regulations and will work toward an agreement based on consultation.”

China has maintained close economic and diplomatic relations with Iran and has been one of the supporters of the nuclear agreement with the Islamic Republic.

The senior Chinese diplomat also, referring to India and Pakistan’s permanent membership in the Shanghai Organization, spoke of the “increasing attractiveness and growth” of this organization for other countries.

Chinese officials had announced their readiness last November, following Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s expression of desire for Turkey to join the Shanghai Organization, to review Turkey’s membership in this organization.

Russia’s prior approval

Russia had previously announced its approval of Iran’s membership in the Shanghai Organization. Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, emphasized on April 21, 2017 that the Islamic Republic currently meets all conditions for membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Russia’s foreign minister had also said two years earlier that following the nuclear agreement, there was no longer any obstacle to Iran’s presence in this organization.

China’s previous reservations

Until last year, China and Tajikistan were the main opponents of Iran’s membership in the Shanghai Organization. According to experts, despite the lifting of Western sanctions against the Islamic Republic, from China’s perspective obstacles still remained in the way of Iran-West economic relations. China, which has serious economic interests in relations with the West, did not want to give the green light regarding Iran’s membership in the Shanghai Organization until it was completely certain about the future of relations between the Islamic Republic and the West.

It appeared that pressure from the United States and other Western countries was also not without effect on China’s opposition to Iran’s membership in the Shanghai Organization. China’s concern about a change of government in Iran and the dominance of anti-Western and anti-American sentiment in the Islamic Republic’s foreign policy also played a role in its opposition.

Experts did not consider Tajikistan’s opposition and that of some other Central Asian countries to Iran’s membership in the Shanghai Organization as unrelated to their fear of possible support by the Islamic Republic for Islamist movements in these countries.

The Shanghai Organization is the largest regional alliance, which was mainly formed in 2011 with the aim of economic, cultural and security cooperation by the leaders of Russia and China, along with four Central Asian countries—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. These four countries are republics separated from the former Soviet Union.

Combating the threat of extremist Islamism and combating drug trafficking from the neighboring country of Afghanistan were also cited as specific objectives of the organization’s formation. India and Pakistan became permanent members of this organization in 2016. Mongolia has been an observer member of the Shanghai Organization since 2004, and Iran and Afghanistan have been observer members since 2012.

Source: DW