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Iran: China's Newest Colony?

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byAugust 8, 2020 at 5:00 amTranslations of this item:A new secret deal with China appears to be giving Beijing significant control over Iran. The ruling mullahs are selling off the country to China, just as some African governments did. Beijing appears more than happy to make deals with dictators, ignore their human rights abuses and plunder their nations to advance its own global hegemonic ambitions. Pictured: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (right) and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet on January 23, 2016 in Tehran, Iran. (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)A slogan in which Iran's ruling mullahs have taken since they came to power in 1979 is: "Neither East nor West." The Iranian regime has long about its independence from both Western and Eastern powers. A new secret deal with China, however, appears to be giving Beijing significant control over Iran.The 25-year secret deal, which looks like a , grants China significant rights over the nation's resources. Leaked information that one of its terms is that China will be investing nearly $400 billion in Iran's oil, gas and petrochemicals industries. In return, China will priority to bid on any new project in Iran that is linked to these sectors. China will also a 12% discount and it can delay payments by up to two years. China will also be able to in any currency it chooses. It is also estimated that, in total, China will discounts of nearly 32%.Another secret element of the agreement has a military dimension: China will 5,000 members of its security forces on the ground in Iran. These concessions are unprecedented in the history of the Islamic Republic. The deal is a clear win for China; the $400 billion will be invested , which is a small amount for the second-largest economy in the world. China will also have full over Iran's islands, access to Iran's oil at a highly discounted rate and its influence and presence in almost every sector of Iranian industry, including telecommunications, energy, ports, railways, and banking. China, incidentally, is the world's largest of oil.Even some of Iran's politicians and state-owned newspapers have begun criticizing the deal. A headline in the Iranian newspaper Arman-e Melli, for example, surprisingly the government: "Iran is not Kenya or Sri Lanka (to be colonized by China)."US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo countries in a speech to diplomats and business leaders at the UN Economic Commission for Africa in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, in February 2020, that they "should be wary of authoritarian regimes with empty promises. They breed corruption, dependency." An in the Iranian newspaper , by the Iranian journalist Shirzad Abdollahi, was published with the title, "Will Iran become a Chinese colony?" He officials:"The smiles of the Chinese and the Russians are as harmful and destructive to Iran as Trump's frown. The Americans are openly expressing their views, but the Chinese and the Russians are pursuing their own interests in the guise of diplomatic compliments. China, Russia, the United States, Europe, and all countries are pursuing their own national interests in relation to Iran, and romantic or hostile relations with Iran are meaningless."Mahmoud Ahmadi Bighash, a hardline member of Iran's parliament, on a state-run TV channel that he believes "transferring full authority of Iranian islands to China" was included in the proposed agreement.Even former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the danger of the deal:"It is not valid to enter into a secret agreement with foreign parties without considering the will of the Iranian nation and against the interests of the country, and the Iranian nation will not recognize it."Ahmadinejad the ruling mullahs:"Do you own the country, while auctioning the country without the knowledge of the people? We made a revolution so that no issue would be hidden from the nation, and no one would consider themselves as the owners of the nation."The domestic response of outrage to the deal is being across Iran. Some Iranians are the deal with China to the humiliating and colonial deals made prior to the Islamic Revolution. In 1872, for instance, Iran's ruler Nasir Al-Din Shah British banker Baron Julius de Reuter significant control over Persian roads, factories, extraction of resources, telegraphs, mills, and other public works in exchange for some of the revenue for 20 years. The Reuter concession was so extensive that even famous imperialists such as Lord Curzon it as "the most complete grant ever made of control of resources by any country to a foreigner."The ruling mullahs are selling off the country to China, just as some African did. Beijing appears more than happy to make deals with , their human rights abuses and their nations to advance its own global hegemonic ambitions.Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has several books on Islam and US foreign policy. He can be reached at© 2022 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.Get Free Exclusive Gatestone Content:Recent Articles byAmit •Making deals with China is making a deal with the devil...Andrew Boughton •Appears to make sense to all parties, and is a direct, natural response to US policy of recent decades, all bad for the US. Not just in Iran, but more generally.Igor Guslawski •Ahmadinejad showed himself as very perspicuous person I can ever esteem him and we can wait for him to die as a hero like all the revolutionaries did as revolution went on...CR •"Those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside."- JFK, Inaugural address 1961. And still true today.Nancy S •Since Mao took over China and decided that they were going to become a "Communist nation", I have seen NO concern by the government for protecting "civil rights", including the right to life!Stephen Becket •An interesting, but not unexpected, development in the Middle East. For Iran it will mean more economic activity at the possible cost of civil unrest, but for a totalitarian government that is a situation easily handled. I would guess that, contrary to some of the comments here, it will not curb Iranian insurgency in the region. The Chinese will protect their own Iranian infrastructure interests by flagging them internationally and protecting them with their 5,000 boots on the ground. Those 5,000 do not pose a credible military threat to the region. The presence of the Chinese Military in the Persian Gulf will concern the whole region, although China has been there economically for a while, for example China Harbour building port facilities in Saudi Arabia.However the people who will worry most about this will be India. Chinese presence in Iran gives greater depth to its presence in Pakistan. Remember, recently Iran made an agreement with Afghanistan! If China fought a war on India and defeated them, which is highly likely given the poor state of the Indian military, China will then surround South East Asia and will facilitate its control of the Asia Pacific region. China is already highly influential in Myanmar (Burma). This is the old Domino Theory writ large and still has credibility.The west must create a military treaty with India. We must build her forces to be a credible counter to Chinese expansionism. China is not strong enough to fight militarily but is strong enough to intimidate. She will fight a war of subversion unless we are strong enough to provide a credible military threat.Howard Epstein •Perhaps the Chinese will be a moderating influence on Iranian Nazi policies.Elena •China is doing to Iran what Iran did to Syria and Lebanon. It's called karma.Mike O'Neill •* The ruling mullahs are selling off the country to China *The ruling British Establishment is selling off the country to €UrAbia . . .Mr Mark Turnbull •Very strange Iran doing this with China when it's common knowledge that China can't stand Islam and it has locked up thousands of Muslims into retraining camps so they leave Islam or die.Howard Epstein •No stranger than the Palestinian Authority endorsing Chinese persecution of the Uighars.Ramki •Even more strange that OIC, the voice of Islamic countries which is so vociferous on Palestine or Kashmir, is mute on this deal. Have they forgotten the love and affection showers on Muslims in Xinjiang?Hamish MacDonald •Och Aye.The Chinese are by far the most disciplined of businessmen. They are far more disciplined than even the Dutch. This is well known. Why else would businesses want to invest in China?Moreover, they are more interested in control than any other thing.Iran is operating purely short term, the life of the current Mullahs, most of whom are not young.Iran's future will be China's.Islam?Try the Uighurs.China is not listening to anybody. Islam will be trapped between a rock and a hard place.China knows what lessons it has learned from Uighur re-education can be applied anywhere.They also know how to teach the US a grand lesson in self-discipline. The US has a lot to learn and no time to learn it.The Istanbulian •When you hate the Jews more than you love your children...hahaha. Good news is that in 10 years, Islam will be focused on China.cammo99 •So when China is exploiting peoples, are the criminals under socialism or justified by their ideology? Or did the Capitalists make them do that?Akram Sohail •I think Pakistan is also being trapped on the same lines in CPEC.Left Coast •We are finding out what we have always suspected . . .the Iranian Mullahs are very low intellect and easily played.The only Politicians these Mullahs have outsmarted are Barry Obama, John Kerry and of course the European Union.Oldguyincolorado •So much for the diplomacy of Trump. With 5000 Chinese boots on the ground, with Chinese control of the islands, who would now dare attack Iran?Yet there is another side: China has now " bought" the problems of Iran. It must now control what Iran does, both domestically and in foreign affairs. It must rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions, its revolutionary guards ambitions for expansion and its reckless adventurism. The West has major problems with this deal as China becomes a very major player in middle Eastern affairs. Russia now has a new major constant there as well. We may see that Iran/China may become a far less favored " friend" with the rest of the Shia world and proxies such as Hizbollah and Hamas must now look to new masters who do not share their religious views.China is extremely pragmatic. It's relationship with Israel and its antagonism towards Russia may well play a role in protecting Israel. Conversely Israel will now be in a position to strike Chinese interests directly if Iran becomes too much of a threat towards Israel. But this would be very problematic; China's military equipment will certainly cause major issues if such an attack were to take place.Our freedom of the seas will be very limited with the presence of the Chinese Navy now patrolling in this area. On the flip side, we are less likely to see Iran threatening our navy because we will now have a new route to follow: telling China to bring those Iranian vessels under control and China will have no choice but to do so. A war in the waters of the gulf will bring disaster to the newly acquired oil and other resources of China. India will now be in a position to threaten these Chinese resources in the event of a war with China because this Chinese pipeline must now pass Indian waters.This "deal" makes China both more powerful, yet more vulnerable and certainly more responsible in helping the world maintain peace in this region. Any "explosion" in the region will force China to stop Iranian adventurism. This runs counter to the theology of the Revolutionary Guard which, we are told, really runs the country. It will be interesting to see just how it reacts ( unless this arrangement has already been approved by it). And the people of Iran have yet to speak. This could be the Achilles heel in everything. Will the Iranian population tolerate foreign soldiers on its soil extracting its resources?Is this the reason why our Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff made that surprise 4 hour visit to Israel several days ago?Interesting times for us all.No One •To think Iran thought The United States was the enemy, just wait till China begins it takeover of Iran.Leonard Oken •One possible good side to this could be China's reining in on Iran's Imperial inclinations. If she invests billions in Iran she will not want Iranian behavior to threaten those investments with retaliations.There is room for only one Imperialist in the Middle East!Ian Ogden •The indigenous people of Iran should risk their lives to protect the relative freedom they have. Mullahs are once in a life time persons and while the next 25 yrs may give them wealth and power the people of Iran will regret not now holding them to account. Too late tomorrow if they sit on their hands and pontificate that they cannot do anything to stop this selling of their assets.Nemo •Even if the Chinese try to be very low-profile, the Shia hatred of non-Muslims will eventually make life impossible for them!Fred Alexander •Maybe the reverse will happen, and China will put them all in re-education camps.Raj •Imagine the Iranian people's sense of betrayal sold out by a bunch of shabby clerics for a pocket full of empty promises. The Iranian revolutionary guards brigade must be feeling humiliated by this unforseen turn of events.Hans Lembøl •The Mullahs had the choice between Iran going bankrupt and themselves being overthrown by a revolution, and selling out to China. They chose the latter solution in order to be able to stay in business.However, it is not necessarily a bad deal altogether for the Iranians, as their living conditions, at least materially, are going to improve as Iran's economy is improving.What is happening between China and Iran is, by the way, a direct result of the West's policy towards Iran since 1953 and the recent US sanction policy that has driven Iran into the poorhouse from which only the Chinese were willing and capable to deliver it.Will politicians in the West learn from this? Not a chance, I'm afraid. A new world order is dawning.The Istanbulian •You are right. China got ready-to-collapse Iran and the USA got India. Not a bad deal.LC KoolG •A stunning victory for China beyond its wildest imagination. The Iranian people continue to suffer and the West hides it.Alex Baldor •The only element of the China-Iran agreement that is different from other agreements that China did with African countries is the deployment of 5,000 Chinese military personnel in Iran. It shows that China does not trust the Mullahs that they will stick to the agreement. As to China not paying attention to the human rights record of Iran this is one of the principles of China diplomacy they consider it as internal matter of the country. It is no different than what US has done in the past.Hans Lembøl •The deployment of Chinese troops in Iran makes a VERY important difference, as it means that it would be impossible for the US to attack Iran without risking to start what could rapidly turn into a world war and a defeat for the US. The most intelligent strategy the US could apply would be to come to an agreement with China on dividing their spheres of interest instead of the recent policy of confrontation. However, I'm afraid that it might already be too late for this.Phil Copson •So, the reality is they're more than willing to take orders from the hated infidels just so long as their palms are well-greased....And - has China offered to wipe out Israel for them ?Guy Leven-Torres •China's sortie into Iran will be their undoing. A huge and grave strategic error. Ahmadinejad is correct.Patrick •This is very worrying. China and Iran are the two most dangerous countries in the world. Reminds one of the axis powers. These two dangerous powers are going to become exponentially more dangerous.Get Free Exclusive Gatestone Content:by Majid Rafizadehby Majid Rafizadehby Majid Rafizadehby Peter Schweizerby Raymond Ibrahimby Guy Millièreby Peter Schweizerby Raymond Ibrahimby Amir Taheriby Majid Rafizadehby Guy Millièreby Khaled Abu ToamehTop IssuesThis website uses cookies to provide you with better services. To find out more, please review our .OK

byAugust 8, 2020 at 5:00 amTranslations of this item:A new secret deal with China appears to be giving Beijing significant control over Iran. The ruling mullahs are selling off the country to China, just as some African governments did. Beijing appears more than happy to make deals with dictators, ignore their human rights abuses and plunder their nations to advance its own global hegemonic ambitions. Pictured: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (right) and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet on January 23, 2016 in Tehran, Iran. (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)A slogan in which Iran's ruling...

Iran: China's Newest Colony?

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