China gives green light for Iran's membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization

A Chinese official, referring to his country's agreement with Iran's membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, said that the issue will be discussed at a meeting before the organization. Russia was in favor of Iran's membership in the organization, while China was against it.

According to Reuters, a senior Chinese diplomat announced on Monday (June 5) that the country has agreed to Iran's membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and said that the issue of Iran's accession will be discussed at this week's summit of the organization.

At its summit last year (2016), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization refused to accept Iran's membership, despite Russia's support for the Islamic Republic's application to join the organization, which indicated the possibility of a disagreement between China and Russia in this regard.

Iran has long been waiting to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Russia's argument was that with the lifting of sanctions against Tehran, there would be no longer any obstacles to Iran's membership in the organization.

According to Li Huilai, Assistant Foreign Minister of China, Iran, as an observer member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, has long been "actively participating" in the organization's activities and has taken positive steps towards its activities.

"China welcomes and supports Iran's request for permanent membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization," China's Assistant Foreign Minister told reporters on the eve of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, which will also be attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Li Huilai added: "I think that during the summit, all parties will carefully consider Iran's membership based on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's regulations and work towards an agreement based on consultation."

China has had close economic and diplomatic relations with Iran and has been a supporter of the nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic.

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

Last November, Chinese officials announced their readiness to consider Turkey's membership in the organization, after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his country's desire to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Russia's prior agreement

Russia had previously announced its agreement with Iran's membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. On April 21 of this year (2017), Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov emphasized that the Islamic Republic meets all the conditions for membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization under the current circumstances.

The Russian Foreign Minister also said two years ago that after the nuclear agreement, there is no longer any obstacle to Iran's presence in this organization.

China's past hesitation

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, China still sees obstacles to economic relations between Iran and the West. China, which has serious economic interests in relations with the West, was reluctant to give the green light to Iran's membership in the Shanghai Organization until it was fully confident about the future of relations between the Islamic Republic and the West.

It seemed that pressure from the United States and other Western countries had had an impact on China's opposition to Iran's membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. China's concern about a change of government in Iran and the dominance of anti-Western and anti-American tendencies in the Islamic Republic's foreign policy also played a role in its opposition.

Experts also considered the opposition of Tajikistan and some other Central Asian countries to Iran's membership in the Shanghai Organization to be related to their fear of the Islamic Republic's possible support for Islamic movements in these countries.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is the largest regional pact, formed in 2011 by the leaders of Russia and China, along with the four Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, which are former Soviet republics, primarily for economic, cultural, and security cooperation.

Countering the threat of radical Islamism and combating drug trafficking from neighboring Afghanistan were also stated as specific goals of the organization's formation. India and Pakistan became permanent members of the organization in 2016. Mongolia has been observer members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization since 2004, and Iran and Afghanistan since 2012.

Source: Dw