Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Tuesday expressed support for Iran during a visit by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi as Tehran tries to expand relations with Beijing and Moscow to offset Western sanctions over its nuclear development.
The official Chinese account of Xi’s meeting with Raisi gave no indication of whether they discussed Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Tehran supplied military drones to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government, but says they were delivered before the war began.
Photo: AP
Xi expressed support for Raisi’s government in language Beijing uses to criticize Washington’s domination of global affairs.
“China supports Iran in safeguarding national sovereignty” and “resisting unilateralism and bullying,” Xi said in a statement carried by Chinese state TV on its Web site.
Xi and Raisi attended the signing of 20 cooperation agreements, including on trade and tourism, the Chinese government said.
Those add to a 25-year strategy agreement signed in 2021 to cooperate in developing oil, industry and other fields.
Iran has for years struggled under trade and financial sanctions imposed by Washington and other Western governments over what they say is Tehran’s efforts to develop nuclear weapons, an accusation the Iranian government denies.
US Department of State spokesman Ned Price urged the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to influence Iran and lower potential threats in the region, saying that “would be in both of our interests.”
“The PRC has a role to play in very clearly signaling to Iran that its destabilizing activities — that its brinksmanship — is not going to be rewarded, it’s not going to be countenanced. It is not something that the international community is prepared to sit idly by and watch,” Price told reporters in Washington.
Xi said that Beijing “opposes external forces interfering in Iran’s internal affairs and undermining Iran’s security and stability,” the government statement said.
It said Xi promised to “work together on issues involving each other’s core interests,” but gave no details.
Raisi’s government did not immediately release details of the meeting, but the president called the two governments “friends in difficult situations” in a commentary published on Monday by the People’s Daily.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌), asked whether Beijing was concerned that getting closer to Iran might complicate US-Chinese ties, said their “friend relations” contribute to “promotion of peace and stability in the Middle East.”
“Our relations do not target any third parties,” Wang said.
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
All 24 lawmakers of the main opposition Chinese Nationalists Party (KMT) on Saturday survived historical nationwide recall elections, ensuring that the KMT along with Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers will maintain opposition control of the legislature. Recall votes against all 24 KMT lawmakers as well as Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) and KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) failed to pass, according to Central Election Commission (CEC) figures. In only six of the 24 recall votes did the ballots cast in favor of the recall even meet the threshold of 25 percent of eligible voters needed for the recall to pass,