Iran has canceled a US$2 billion contract for a Chinese firm to help build a hydroelectric dam in the country, Chinese state media said yesterday, a move that risks upsetting Beijing, one of Tehran’s most important economic and political allies.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is due to visit China next week for a security summit, where he is expected to hold talks with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), on Iran’s disputed nuclear program.
Last year in March, Iran’s official IRNA news agency said China’s Sinohydro Corp had signed a contract with Iranian hydro firm Farab to build the dam, described as the world’s tallest, in Iran’s western province of Lorestan. It was designed to support a 1,500-megawatt power station.
The Global Times, a popular tabloid owned by the Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece the People’s Daily, said the Iranian government had decided to cancel the contract. The report did not cite sources or give a reason for the cancellation.
However, it quoted Iranian media reports as saying Iran’s central bank was “dissatisfied” with financing options offered by China.
Sinohydro was not immediately available for comment.
Guo Xiangang, (郭憲綱) the vice president of the China Institute of International Studies, a government think tank, said he did not see the cancellation affecting Sino-Iran ties.
“Some projects may be canceled due to some technical reasons, other projects are still going on, it is really normal,” Guo said. “The outside world does not need to exaggerate this.”
Guo, who is an expert on the Middle East, added the cancellation would not affect Ahmadinejad’s visit to China.
China and Iran have close energy and trade ties, and Beijing has repeatedly resisted US-led demands to impose tougher economic sanctions on Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions.
However, differences have arisen between China and Iran in the development of Iran’s oil and gas resources.
State-owned China National Petroleum Corporation was given a month’s deadline by Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Ghasemi in April to make a serious start on the giant South Pars gas field after 32 months of delay.
In September last year, foreign media reported China’s reluctance to progress with oil and gas investments in Iran.
A lot of foreign companies have been forced to pull out of the Iranian energy sector due to the fear of sanctions, but state-owned Asian firms are less susceptible to Western pressure to stay away from the Iranian market.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is constructing a new counter-stealth radar system on a disputed reef in the South China Sea that would significantly expand its surveillance capabilities in the region, satellite imagery suggests. Analysis by London-based think tank Chatham House suggests China is upgrading its outpost on Triton Island (Jhongjian Island, 中建島) on the southwest corner of the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), building what might be a launching point for an anti-ship missile battery and sophisticated radar system. “By constraining the US ability to operate stealth aircraft, and threaten stealth aircraft, these capabilities in the South China Sea send
HAVANA: Repeated blackouts have left residents of the Cuban capital concerned about food, water supply and the nation’s future, but so far, there have been few protests Maria Elena Cardenas, 76, lives in a municipal shelter on Amargura Street in Havana’s colonial old town. The building has an elegant past, but for the last few days Maria has been cooking with sticks she had found on the street. “You know, we Cubans manage the best we can,” she said. She lives in the shelter because her home collapsed, a regular occurrence in the poorest, oldest parts of the beautiful city. Cuba’s government has spent the last days attempting to get the island’s national grid functioning after repeated island-wide blackouts. Without power, sleep becomes difficult in the heat, food
Botswana is this week holding a presidential election energized by a campaign by one previous head-of-state to unseat his handpicked successor whose first term has seen rising discontent amid a downturn in the diamond-dependent economy. The charismatic Ian Khama dramatically returned from self-exile six weeks ago determined to undo what he has called a “mistake” in handing over in 2018 to Botswanan President Mokgweetsi Masisi, who seeks re-election tomorrow. While he cannot run as president again having served two terms, Khama has worked his influence and standing to support the opposition in the southern African country of 2.6 million people. “The return of
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has rejected a plan for the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to visit Kyiv due to Guterres’ attendance at this week’s BRICS summit in Russia, a Ukrainian official said on Friday. Kyiv was enraged by Guterres’ appearance at the event in the city of Kazan on Thursday and his handshake with its host, Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose forces invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Guterres, who called for a “just peace” in Ukraine at the BRICS event and has repeatedly condemned the invasion, discussed a visit to Ukraine with Zelenskiy when they met in New York