TEHRAN – China’s Vice Premier Hu Chunhua on Tuesday stressed that his country has always respected Iran’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity after the Iranian president chided his Chinese counterpart’s stances expressed during a recent visit to the region.
Hu Chunhua, who arrived in Iran on Monday at the head of a Chinese trade and economic delegation, met with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
Pointing to growing relations between Iran and China after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Raisi said some of the stances expressed by Chinese President Xi Jinping during his recent visit to the region have caused discontent and unease among the Iranian people and government.
Iran seriously demands that China make up for those stances, Raisi stated.
Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Saudi Arabia on Friday, where he also sat down with leaders of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
They issued a joint statement, which contained several clauses that directly dealt with Iranian affairs, its nuclear program, and its regional role.
The issue that irked Iran was ownership of Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa – three Iranian islands in the Strait of Hormuz.
In signing the statement that called for “bilateral negotiations in accordance with the rules of international law, and to resolve this issue in accordance with international legitimacy”, China effectively undermined Tehran’s stance that it would not entertain any talks on its islands.
In his meeting with Hu Tuesday, President Raisi pointed to the good opportunity which exists for expansion of economic and trade cooperation. He touched on major agreements signed in previous presidential meetings, stressing the need for efforts to implement them.
For his part, Hu extended warm regards from Xi for the Iranian president.
He said China’s determination to broaden ties with Iran regardless of regional and international developments is strong.
“China always respects the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran and supports Iran’s efforts to fulfill its fundamental interests,” the Chinese vice premier stated.
He also briefed Raisi on the results of his meetings with the Iranian officials, noting that Beijing and Tehran will make great strides in implementing plans for strategic cooperation and enhancing relations with the start of joint investment in projects valued tens of billions of dollar.
Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Ehsan Khandozi said the two sides finalized 16 initial agreements to implement their 25-year roadmap for strategic partnership.
“Executive measures in the field of oil and gas, banking, investment and strategic projects were put on the agenda to be approved in the next meeting of the presidents of the two countries in the new future,” Fars news agency quoted him as saying.
“Given that the political and economic will of the two countries is to improve their capacities despite the international restrictions and sanctions pressures, we has seen a nearly 20% increase in trade and the outlook for 2023 is much higher than which is now,” Khandozi said.