Baghdad, December 23 (Xinhua) — Ten Years of Hand in Hand, China Iran Strategic Partnership Continues in a New Chapter
The waves of the Euphrates River have witnessed the dawn of civilization and washed away the scars of war. In December 2015, China and Iraq formally established a strategic partnership and signed a cooperation document on jointly building the “the Belt and Road”. This historic handshake not only takes the relationship between the two countries to a new level, but also opens up an extraordinary journey of two ancient civilizations working together for mutual benefit and win-win outcomes.
In the decade when Iraq was waiting to be revitalized, China and Iraq have continuously strengthened political mutual trust, deepened pragmatic cooperation, and increasingly close cultural exchanges on the basis of mutual respect and equal treatment, becoming a vivid example of win-win cooperation among developing countries in the turbulent and changing world.
Political mutual trust is a solid foundation for the steady development of bilateral relations. Against the backdrop of post-war reconstruction and complex and changing security situation in Iraq, China has always firmly supported the Iraqi government in developing the economy, improving people’s livelihoods, and combating terrorism, and opposed external forces interfering in Iraq’s internal affairs, which has been highly recognized by the Iraqi side. Over the past decade, both sides have respected each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, respected their respective development paths, taken care of each other’s core interests and major concerns, continuously expanded consensus, and provided important support for the vigorous development of the strategic partnership between the two countries.
Mutual benefit and win-win is a distinctive feature of China Iran cooperation. China is the country that participated in Iraq’s economic reconstruction earliest, for the longest time, with the widest distribution of projects and the most fields. Over the past decade, Chinese companies have been deeply involved in the construction of energy, electricity, transportation and other infrastructure in Iraq. The Hafaya natural gas processing plant has added confidence to the local response to the “gas shortage”; The Nisur three-dimensional transportation hub project effectively alleviates the traffic congestion problem in the capital Baghdad; The expansion project of the combined cycle power plant in the Euphrates River Basin has built an “energy ark” for local power supply guarantee… The localized application of Chinese technology and standards provides important support for Iraq’s post-war reconstruction and injects sustained momentum into the local economic recovery.
In the past decade, China Iran economic and trade cooperation has become increasingly close, with bilateral trade volume exceeding 54 billion US dollars by 2024, covering multiple fields such as energy, automobiles, and electronic products. In Iraq, Chinese electric vehicle brands are increasingly favored, providing diversified choices for green travel; Chinese made electronic devices and smart home products have entered millions of households, effectively improving the convenience of people’s lives; Adopting Chinese standard electrical equipment and building materials products for infrastructure construction, continuously improving the level of local public services. As Baghdad resident Jassim said, the mutually beneficial cooperation results between the two countries are “visible and tangible”.
Cultural exchanges provide profound nourishment for the relationship between both parties. Iraq has established a Global Civilization Initiative Research Center, the “Chinese Bridge” competition has sparked a “Chinese fever”, and the number of Iraqi students studying in China has steadily increased… In recent years, cultural exchanges between the two countries have continued to heat up and gradually expanded to multi-level interactions such as education, culture, academia, and youth exchanges. Cultural exchanges have brought warmth to the relationship between the two countries, and people to people exchanges have solidified the social foundation for the steady progress of the China Iran strategic partnership.
Based on a new starting point, China and Iran will continue their traditional friendship, deepen mutual trust and cooperation, promote the strategic partnership to a higher level, broader fields and deeper levels, and jointly open a new chapter in the next decade of high-quality joint construction of the “the Belt and Road”.