Chinese President Xi Jinping completed his recent tour of the Middle East which took place between
Osman Takçı
JTW News, Jan. 19 and 23
Chinese President Xi Jinping completed his recent
tour of the Middle East which took place between Jan. 19 and 23. The
multidimensional trip to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran was Xi’s first
overseas visit of 2016 and his first ever visit to the Middle East since
taking office in 2013.
President Xi stated the aim of the tour in the Egyptian capital of
Cairo, declaring that he sought to elevate China to a partner for peace,
stability and development in the region. Moreover, Xi laid out a vision
of reinforced ties between the Arab League and China. Xinhua News
Agency quoted An Huihou, former Chinese ambassador to Egypt, as saying
“non-interference with the domestic affairs of other countries and
peaceful resolution of disputes have been cornerstones of China's
foreign policy for decades. China never pursues its own selfish
benefit.”
The last destination of Xi’s visit was Iran, whereupon he became the
first foreign leader to visit the country after the lifting of
international sanctions. Before landing however, he had already set the
tone of his visit, writing an open letter to the Iranian people via
Xinhua News Agency stressing that “China has been Iran’s biggest trading
partner for six years.”
Especially after the imposition of sanctions by Western countries China
expanded its economic engagement with Iran, particularly in strategic
economic domains such as in the energy, construction and defense
industries. Such developments resulted in the emergence of positive
sentiments in Iran as illustrated in Head of the Iran-China Chamber of
Commerce Asadollah Asgaroladi’s statement that “after the [Iranian]
Revolution we exchanged the Western frowns with the smiles from the East
and now they continue to smile at us.” In this vein, Iran’s Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
told Xi Jinping on Saturday that “Iranians had never trusted the West”,
stressing that independent countries (such as China) would be Iran’s
friends in the future
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