On November 21st, America, UK and Canada
announced more sanctions against Iran.
France also proposed to adopt new sanctions to force Tehran
to stop it’s nuclear project.
On Nov 23rd, the spokesman of Chinese Communist Party
(CCP)’s Foreign Ministry said in a regular press conference held in Beijing that
China is opposed to unilateral sanctions against Iran.
Scholars believe that, being isolated,
China and Iran need mutual support.
Meanwhile, the CCP government, with internal and external difficulties,
may express an even tougher diplomatic “voice”.
“Reuters” reported on Nov 23rd: “The United States,
UK and Canada have announced new sanctions
against Iran in the areas of energy and finance.
France proposed ‘unprecedented’ new sanctions,
including freezing the assets of the Central Bank of Iran
and suspending the purchase of Iran’s oil.
Earlier, the “International Atomic Energy Agency” (IAEA)
had issued a report that Iran may be secretly developing nuclear weapons.
On Nov 23rd, the CCP’s Foreign Ministry expressed opposition
to the imposition of unilateral sanctions against Iran.
In this regard, Xia Ming, a political professor from
“City University of New York” in America, believes that
since the Cold War, the United States and Western society’s
biggest challenges have been seen as being from China and Iran.
They are both isolated by the United States and the West.
Therefore, China’s policy is foreseeable.
Xia Ming says: “China and Iran are facing strong Western
challenges within politics, economy and culture.
So these two countries basically have a kind of coordination
on the international stage, to support each other.
So we can see that China and Iran coordinate a lot,
with a lot of cooperation in matters of energy, arms and so on.”
“Associated Press” also reported on Nov 23rd: “Since 2006,
the United Nations have carried out 4 rounds of sanctions against Iran.
But with export of energy, Iran has not been severely
affected by the sanctions.”
“AFP” said: “China supports Iran and purchases
large quantities of oil from Iran.
Meanwhile, China is Iran’s biggest trading partner.
Their bilateral trade totals up to $ 30 billion.
“Voice of America” reported, according to Chinese customs’
data, this year (2011) Iran could become China’s second largest crude oil supplier.
However, Iran disdains the new round of sanctions.
Israel and Washington said in the event that other efforts were not effective,
the possibility of military action would not be ruled out.
It’s puzzling to some that Major General Zhang Zhaozhong,
a professor from the Chinese National Defense University,
said China will not hesitate to protect Iran even
with a third World War.
Professor Xia Ming: “Zhang Zhaozhong said that
not hesitating to fight a third world war would be entirely for domestic political needs.
To some extent though, this would be completely
ridiculous to encourage”
Professor Xia Ming pointed out that the United States and
Western societies may deal with Iran by a method of “Jasmine Revolution”, similar to what happened in Libya.
From the perspective of the Libya model,
NATO could not possibly involve itself in large-scale military action,
and it would be impossible to start a new war.
In fact, a senior European diplomat with anonymity
in Tehran said that the Iranian government was actually very worried about a military strike.
Analysts also say that ordinary people don’t worship
their leaders so much any more.
But Professor Xia Ming said that the CCP regime itself
is facing a much bigger crisis than Iran.
The CCP regime not only faces challenges from Southeast Asia,
the South China Sea, South Asia countries and so on,
but also faces the pressure from America for the RMB exchange rate, export, and human rights issues,
as well as the pressure of domestic issues meanwhile.
Professor Xia Ming says : “China is facing pressure
from America. Meanwhile, current domestic pressure is also very considerable.
In particular, we can see in civil society, the challenge to
the Chinese government and resistance forces are growing.
Therefore, the Chinese government is indeed facing the
arrival of a big power shift in the 18th session.
So, China may express a tougher diplomatic voice.
On the one hand, it is a reaction to pressure from America.
On the other hand, it needs to meet the demand of
domestic nationalist groups.
Russia is another ally of Iran, with similar policy to that
of China. Toward Iran.