Centuries-old partnership binds China, Iran together / For more than a decade, Beijing helped give Tehran a head start in its nuclear program

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao answers questions during a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, unseen, in the Chancellory in Berlin, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2006. Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao on Thursday reiterated his opposition to imposing sanctions against Iran, saying a solution to the standoff over Tehran's nuclear program could still be reached through peaceful efforts. In background is an image of the German federal eagle. (AP Photo/Franka Bruns) less Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao answers questions during a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, unseen, in the Chancellory in Berlin, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2006. Chinese Prime Minister Wen ... more Photo: FRANKA BRUNS Photo: FRANKA BRUNS Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Centuries-old partnership binds China, Iran together / For more than a decade, Beijing helped give Tehran a head start in its nuclear program 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

2006-09-18 04:00:00 PDT Beijing -- With Iran's nuclear enrichment program at the center of high-stakes multinational negotiations, China is in the awkward position of passing judgment in the U.N. Security Council on the very technology it helped the Islamic republic accumulate.

For more than a decade, starting in 1984, China aided Iran with its fledgling nuclear program. Although Beijing no longer is providing such assistance, Tehran's weapons program would be far less sophisticated had it not received significant Chinese help.

That assistance included training Iranian scientists, helping to build facilities, and direct military aid and hardware sales, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a Washington-based research group. China also supplied Iran's first nuclear reactor in 1991, in addition to hardware and support.

"Between 1985 and 1997, China was Iran's most important nuclear partner," said John Garver, associate at Georgia Institute of Technology's China Research Center and author of "China and Iran: Ancient Partners in a Post-Imperial World."

In 1997, after years of intense criticism from the United States and others, China pledged to end its nuclear assistance. Since then, there has been no direct evidence otherwise. But to some experts, China is working to help Iran -- with which it has significant oil deals -- in more subtle ways.

"Tehran's intransigence in this standoff has been made possible in part by its strategic partnership with Beijing. Since the start of international negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program some three years ago, China has worked actively to dilute the effectiveness of any global response. It has done so initially through its vociferous opposition to Iran's referral to the United Nations Security Council, and more recently by its resistance to the imposition of multilateral sanctions against Tehran," Ilan Berman, vice president for policy of the American Foreign Policy Council, said in testimony last week before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which advises Congress on matters concerning China.

As the Bush administration has led the drive to rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions by pushing for Security Council sanctions, China has strived to mollify its top trading partner, the United States. But at the same time, the Beijing government is pushing for more talks and fewer threats of sanctions against its longer-term ally and closer political confederate, Iran.

If push comes to shove, analysts say, it's difficult to tell which side China would ultimately choose. Some contend that China will do its best to ensure it doesn't have to choose, while also continuing its cautious route of bolstering economic ties to buffer Iran against potential U.S.-led economic sanctions.

"The Chinese will work very hard to make it look like they are not choosing (the) U.S. over Tehran, but they will also have to not appear obstructionist," said Adam Segal, senior fellow for China studies with the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

The situation, said Segal, is markedly similar in many ways to China's current position in the North Korean weapons imbroglio. As Beijing consistently calls for more negotiations and publicly condemns its longtime Asian ally, it shies away from the U.S.-led push for tough sanctions.

At a European Union summit last weekend, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said his country is unlikely to support sanctions against Iran. "To mount pressure or impose sanctions will not necessarily bring about a peaceful solution," Wen said.

"China helps to move things along, but does not make the difficult choices that could resolve the crisis," Segal said of the Iranian and North Korean nuclear standoffs.

Indeed, China's mantra throughout the recent escalation with Iran has been a call for more talking.

"We have consistently stood for the resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue through negotiation and dialogue," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in Beijing earlier this month.

In its opposition to U.N. sanctions on Tehran, China has echoed the stance of Russia, Iran's more forthright ally. Both China and Russia are permanent, veto-wielding members of the Security Council, both have important trade ties with Iran, and both chafe at being pressured to follow U.S. policy initiatives.

In the past five years, China and Iran have significantly deepened and expanded their economic ties. That two-way trade totaled $6 billion in the first half of 2006, more than double the annual trade just five years ago.

China, a burgeoning economic superpower whose 10.9 percent growth last year made it the world's fourth-largest economy, has an unceasing appetite for energy. In part thanks to major deals reached in the past three years, Iran now supplies 11 to 13 percent of China's oil, according to government and analyst estimates.

China committed $3 billion this year to help increase yields from Iran's oil fields -- an important investment, noted Jephraim Gundzik, president of Condor Advisers, which specializes in emerging-markets research.

"Beijing is essentially helping Tehran to lessen the impact of sanctions by increasing the country's domestic fuel production," said Gundzik.

Yet the relationship is not only about oil, and it stretches back centuries. Both nations are proud, ancient non-Western civilizations that "deeply resent perceived contemporary Western presumptions of superiority," said Garver, the Georgia Tech scholar. The two see each other as kindred spirits in an era of rapid global Westernization.

In 2001, Chinese President Hu Jintao, then the vice president, made an official state visit to Tehran marking 30 years of diplomatic relations. Hu lobbied for more trade between the two nations and harkened back to their ancient ties. That theme -- of two countries doing business over the centuries as part of the ancient Silk Road trade route -- has often been repeated in state-run media in China over the ensuing years.

"Mega-Chinese investment in Iran is a strong demonstration of trust between Iran and China, but the relationship between the two is much deeper," said Gundzik. "In geopolitical terms, neither country wants the U.S. to become the dominant power in the Middle East.

"Iran doesn't want to be controlled by Washington, and China does not want its energy supply controlled by the U.S. As a result, the two countries are working together to thwart the U.S."

What keeps Iran and China tied, and tilts the balance at the United Nations as negotiators seek a solution, may be a simple distaste for U.S. world dominance.

As Garver put it, "Neither likes the fact that the United States is a sole global superpower."