Monitoring Desk
BEIJING: China’s President Xi Jinping on Tuesday called for the proper and early resolution of the Iran nuclear issue while expressing his support for the Western Asian country in safeguarding its rights and interests, Chinese state media reported.
China will continue to constructively participate in talks to resume negotiations on implementing the Iran nuclear agreement; Xi told Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi in the negotiations in Beijing.
A 2015 nuclear deal limited Iran’s uranium enrichment program, making it harder for Tehran to develop nuclear arsenals in return for lifting international sanctions. Tehran says it was further developing nuclear energy for peaceful reasons.
However, in 2018, then-US President Donald Trump ditched the deal and said it had not done enough to curb Iran’s nuclear activities and reimposed sanctions.
China has criticized the US for withdrawing from the deal and insists that the United States make the first move to revive the pact.
Ahead of his three-day trip that started on Tuesday, Ebrahim Raisi wrote an editorial in China’s state-owned People’s Daily in which he said both countries believe that violent and unilateralism measures, such as the imposition of unjust sanctions are the major causes of crises and insecurity in the world.
Xi Jinping and Ebrahim Raisi pledge to form stronger alliance
China said it is ready to deepen cooperation with Iran in trade, agriculture, industry, and infrastructure and to import more high-quality Iranian agricultural products.
Xi and Raisi pledged to form a stronger alliance when they last met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in the Uzbek city of Samarkand in September.
Last year, China and Iran also began the implementation phase of a 25-year bilateral cooperation accord under which China will invest billions of dollars in Iran’s petroleum sector.
