SinoDefence Forum

samba

Considering that many western companies have outlawed military sales to china, I dont see why china should respect the wests wishes to sanction iran?

For example the iranians are keen on getting hold of s-300's from russia, china could provide them with their HQ-9?

One big consideration is china's relationship with israel

Mightypeon

I dont see a hard reason for it to do so, especially if it acts in conjunction with Russia.
No amount of sanctioning of Iran is likely to stop the Anti Chinese hostility of the UK/USA establishment.

pla101prc

its not a smart thing to sell iran arms. its one thing to have economic cooperation, but completely another to have military cooperation. its like China opposing to arms sale to Taiwan, not that those weapons really poses any threat to the PLA, but its underlying policies is important.

Lion

China relation with Israel is not the key.

China relation with other major Arab nation especially Saudi is the key.

Iran despite being Islam belongs to Shite sect which is different from Saudi or most Islamic countries of Sunni.

Major Arab countries do not want to see the rise of Shite muslim and spread to their country. Selling advance weapon to Iran may strain China relationship with Sunni especially China needed to buy more and more fuel abroad. It is best China maintain a good relationship with Sunni muslim while at same time still buy fuel from Iran.

pla101prc

China's attitude towards the middle east has been emphasizing on economy anyways. let the US do all the dirty work, we just do business.

challenge

both russia and china come under political pressure from saude,gulf state and arab countries to join the embargo.

Semi-Lobster

It seems Russia is getting a bit weary of Iran, especially with its nuclear testing and may be willing to side with the US on Iran. This leaves China, who with economic cooperation will provide China with the ability to 'handle' Iran like it does North Korea (hopefully).

Iran is still in a bit politically fractured after the election, while there is no need for China to get its hands dirty with politics and taking sides, perhaps a mediating role through economics means would greatly legitimise China's political interests in the region as a neutral party. What's good for the Iranian economy is potentially good for the Chinese economy. The market is wide open for China to capitalise on, its just a matter of stability.

Lion

China import most of the oil from Iran. Saunction against Iran meants act of war against China.

solarz

Chinese relations with Israel is pretty damn important. China gets most of the high-tech western military technology (the ones US and EU won't sell to China) from Israel.

Lion

That is in the 80's and 90's where China technology is weak. After embargo by western and realise they can't heavily depend on outside sources for improvement of their technology. Indigenous is the key now.

And surely Israel don't want to jeopardise more of their relationship with US more than China since US already express displeasure over a few arm procurement and block a few deal. There is not much Israel can offer for China. Now most important thing for China is to make sure import of fossil fuel is not disrupted to halt economy growth and which region has the most fossil fuel available?

Unless Israel can offer billion tons of fuel. I don't see how important Israel is to China? China definitely view relationship with Iran more than Israel. Iran is the biggest exporter of fossil fuel to China. I say again, any sanction against Iran which resulted halt export of fossil fuel and hampen China economy growth is an act of war.

rhino123

It is not as simple as saying whether to support the embargo or not. There are many factors involved... factors such as;

1) warming relationship with the West (not just US, take EU into consideration too)
2) source for oil. (present moment Iran is a big supplier, another supplier is Russia and if China is to undermine Russia in selling advance weaponries to Iran, Russia will surely be affected and Russia is China's neighbour plus a source for oil, so it is not really very clever to do such a thing).
3) As many has pointed out... China's relationship with Israel. Although I agree with Lion that this relationship doesn't actually matter much.
4) China's relationship with the rest of Middle East. Iran obviously is not a very well liked nation in the middle east, thus by selling advance weaponries to Iran, might strain relationship with other middle eastern nations.

So the main thing now is not wether to support or not to support the embargo, but rather to what extend of support should China give. I am thinking maybe if Iran wanted, China could sell some advance weaponries that might not actually unbalance the region's defences to Iran. These would not set the rest of the middle east into a fit.

And most importantly, China should stay clear of Iran's politics against western countries and should not even mention their nuclear program, etc.

Mr T

If China wants to it can ban military cooperation with foreign companies. Why on earth retaliate over sales to a third country that both sides agree is causing trouble on the international stage.

Remember that most countries in the world don't sell large amounts of arms to Taiwan because of Chinese opinions. If China uses Iran as a way of showing its displeasure over foreign sanctions maybe those countries should sell arms to Taiwan as a way of showing their displeasure?

skyhawk77

no . iran needs to be powerful because it is surrounded by powerful nations. think isarel s 299 f16 and other deadly weapons US has given them. china should support iran with 2000 FC1s and other necessary weapons

pla101prc

welcome to the forum, you have lots to learn regarding international relations.

and no iran is kept safe not because of the number of fighters or missiles it has, but because the US is weary of fighting and that Russia and China backs the current regime for their own gains. military is not about acquiring a new fighter jet or missile, even if iran gets the S-300 from Russia it would have very little on the balance of power in the region, its just not the same as giving S-300 to a country like China where surveilance and logistics and training is already there.

selling iran 2000 FC-1? gimme a break....

skyhawk77

im so sorry i meant +200 fc1s like pakistani is going to get.