CIRIS

Research Articles

Vol. 6 (2025): Panoply Journal

Iran's Role in China's Foreign Policy: A Case Study of the 25-Year Agreement

DOI: https://doi.org/10.71166/vxd4gv18
Submitted
23 March 2025
Published
9 May 2025

Abstract

In 2019, a document was signed between Iran and China, which is known in the general literature as the 25-year agreement between Iran and China, and the cooperation between the two countries for 25 years in various fields, including 'political', 'executive', 'manpower', 'cultural', 'judicial', 'security and defense', 'regional', and 'international' cooperation.". This research seeks to answer the question that according to the 25-year strategic agreement between Iran and China, what is Iran's position in Beijing's foreign policy? The hypothesis of the current research, which was investigated in a descriptive-analytical way, is that with the end of the Cold War, the direction of China's foreign policy changed from "non-commitment" to "partnership agreement". - The 25-year agreement between Iran and China can be evaluated in this approach. Addressing this issue is important from the point of view of the 25-year agreement between Iran and China, as well as from the point of view of China's foreign policy. This study will show how the Chinese implement their strategies in the form of a coordinated and planned policy against Iran. Empirical findings showed that since 1993, the number of Chinese partners in the form of a partnership agreement has been increasing, so that Beijing currently cooperates with more than 78 countries. This means that participatory diplomacy has become an important tool in China's foreign policy in recent years. Of course, the pattern of China's strategic partnership varies from country to country depending on its position in the country's foreign policy. The theoretical findings of this research also showed that the foreign policy direction of this country is not fixed and changes under the influence of national interests in different situations. Also, the article shows that China uses three different strategies regarding Iran.

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