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The Diplomat author Mercy Kuo regularly engages subject-matter experts, policy practitioners, and strategic thinkers across the globe for their diverse insights into U.S. Asia policy. This conversation with Dr. Gedaliah Afterman, head of the Asia Policy Program at the Abba Eban Institute for International Diplomacy at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya in Israel, is the 270th in “The Trans-Pacific View Insight Series.”
How has the China-Iran 25-year agreement strategically changed bilateral relations?
The agreement has been described both as a new China-Iran strategic alliance and as an empty gesture. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. The signed agreement has not been made public to date, but a draft circulated by Tehran in 2020 allows some insight into its content. The current agreement, first discussed in 2016, appears to be a long-term roadmap rather than a groundbreaking strategic alliance. It maps out potential areas of cooperation, includi