Old Friends Are Best Partners for a Bright Future
By: Ebrahim Raisi*
I am very happy that at the beginning of the Chinese New Year and the spring festival, I am the guest of the nation of the civilized Chinese nation at the official invitation of Mr Xi Jinping, the Honorable President of the People’s Republic of China, and have the opportunity to meet with the Chinese statesmen and intellectuals, and businesspeople. On behalf of the civilized nation of Iran, while expressing my sincerest congratulations to the government and people of China, I wish them well-being and hope that the new year will see a leap in the strong relations between the two nations.
As two living, dynamic human civilizations, Iran and China were connected to each other through the ancient Silk Road in a history-making initiative, and recorded human well-being and prosperity as an indivisible public benefit that can be realized through interaction and cooperation in the historical memory. China became globally-acknowledged through the ancient Silk Road, and this happiness and prosperity found stability by passing through the land of Iran. Now, with the revival of this initiative in the modern world, the two nations once again share the same fate.
The governments of Iran and China, which have chosen the comprehensive strategic partnership program as a model for their sustainable interactions, have common grounds and similar approaches to international developments. The two countries are against hegemony and unilateralism and emphasize the need to respect the rights and interests of all countries. Both Iran and China deeply believe that by prioritizing spiritual-human values and respect for the right of nations to develop, it is possible to spread peace, fairness, and collective justice in the world. Both countries consider unilateralism and resorting to coercive measures, including oppressive sanctions, as the main root of the crisis and creating insecurity, and emphasize the necessity of joint efforts to achieve real multilateralism and the realization of international justice and fairness and the establishment of just global governance.
For Iran and China, who have been in contact and interaction with each other for a long time and have had direct acquaintance and mutual understanding, it is time to get to know each other directly in the new era; not to get to know each other through third parties. Indirect recognition leads to the formation of an understanding between the parties based on the mental framework and interests of the third parties. To achieve this goal, my government seriously supports people-to-people relations, especially academic and tourism interactions between Iran and China. In this regard, I would like to suggest a few points for a better understanding of the lofty goals of the Iranian nation and government:
The Islamic Republic of Iran believes that progress is originally an endogenous and outward-looking matter. Based on this, the nations should formulate and implement their development plan based on local and cultural governance values and models. The basic interests and rights of nations, including the right to development, are not negotiable, and any attempt by bullying countries to politicize and ultimately deprive nations of their rights by abusing international mechanisms is condemned.
Based on Islamic principles and respect for all religions and cultures, the Islamic Republic of Iran opposes extremism and terrorism and considers it contrary to pure Islam and human happiness. Pure Islam is against terrorism, extremism, and takfiri actions. We believe that the only way to ensure security is to rely on regional actors. Our experience in West Asia has shown that foreign intervention only leads to the intensification of insecurity and the spread of terrorism. Iran’s successful experience in fighting the takfiri terrorism of ISIS and preventing its spread to the east and west of the world indicates that Iran’s power is a security-building one and its regional capacities support peace and stability in countries and are only used to counter the threat of domineering powers.
West Asia has experienced extensive changes during the last two decades. The two major wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are only part of the developments that resulted in the spread of terrorism, the displacement of millions of people, and the killing of hundreds of thousands of civilians. In all the years of the past two decades, the Islamic Republic of Iran has shown that, as a powerful and responsible actor, it is ready and able to play an active role in creating and expanding stability and security in the region. We responsibly sided with our Arab friends. Due to its deep connection with the Arab nations of West Asia, the Islamic Republic was able to fight terrorism side by side with them and prove in practice that its interests are dependent only on peace, stability and protection of national sovereignty and territorial integrity of the countries of the region.
The Islamic Republic seeks maximum interaction with all countries in the world, especially friendly powers like China. Beijing has always shown how a country can progress and help the development of others without colonialism, which is characteristic of the Western powers. This approach is respected by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the People’s Republic of China have always been good and developing. The alignment of the two countries in the new state of the international order can lead to the strengthening of these relations. I would like to emphasize that the policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran will continue to strengthen bilateral relations regardless of regional and international developments.
We consider China’s economic growth and foreign investment to benefit the people of this country and other nations, and we welcome China’s initiatives to promote peace, security, and development in the world. We hope that this positive trend will continue with the management of the far-sighted President of China to achieve lofty goals in the outlook of the coming years.
We believe that, along with political cooperation and respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity, Iran and China will be good strategic complementing parties to each other in the path of economic growth and can provide each other valuable mutual services on the path to development. Political independence, security-building power, educated manpower, low cost of production, energy reserves, transit location, and industrial infrastructure are only parts of Iran’s capacities that can lead to the strengthening of the strategic partnership between Iran and China.
The Islamic Republic of Iran appreciates China’s role in overcoming the COVID crisis, Iran’s membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and joining BRICS Plus, and it is ready to strengthen bilateral relations with China, especially in the field of industrial production and advanced technologies under the 25-year comprehensive strategic partnership program.
The priority of my government’s foreign policy is neighborhood policy, and in this regard, I have extended a hand of friendship to all neighbors and I hope regional integration will be achieved through collective efforts. His Excellency Mr Xi, with the Belt-Road Initiative, has also introduced new paths for collective development and maximum participation of countries to achieve common human destiny. Islamic Republic of Iran considers the Belt-Road Initiative not only as an international corridor but also as a platform for developing and creating a civilizational and industrial transformation along this path.
The nation of Iran is celebrating the 44th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution at the same time as this note is published. The Islamic Revolution took place to liberate the Iranian nation from thousands of years of tyrannical governments dependent on the global dominating powers. The Iranian nation has paid a price to stand on its own feet. Iran does not have an independence day because it has never been a colony. The reason for the hostility of the domineering powers is that the Iranian nation has decided to shape its own destiny and has been successful in this direction.
During these years, the Iranian nation has experienced progress and resistance at the same time. The Islamic Republic of Iran has achieved significant progress in various fields, including science and technology. Today, Iran is a leading country in sciences such as stem cells, space industries, biotechnology and nanotechnology, nuclear sciences and many modern sciences. Iran is the land of knowledge and art. Thanks to the talent of young people and the efforts of scientists, Iran ranks fifteenth in the world in science production. In space technology, Iran is in the limited club of the world’s space powers by designing and launching satellites based on its indigenous technology. In the realization of all these developments, Iranian women have always been pioneers and have played a significant role in the development of Iran. These achievements and huge scientific capacity can be the basis of extensive cooperation between the two nations of Iran and China in advanced sciences.
The culture of friendship and chivalry in Iran is as old as its civilization. Iran and China are friends in difficult situations: “Friends are many in feasts and laughter, but few in hardships”. The bonds of friendship between the two nations, relying on the common will, create many opportunities for deepening strategic mutual trust and a bright future for the relations between the two countries.
*The writer is the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The article was first published in China’s People’s Daily newspaper.