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US-China relations
ChinaDiplomacy

China, Iran should stand together against ‘unilateralism and bullying’, Wang Yi says

  • Chinese foreign minister tells Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif that US withdrawal from nuclear pact, sanctions ‘sources of current tension’
  • He says parties to 2015 agreement should ‘withstand external pressure and deal with disputes through dialogue and negotiations’

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Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif meets his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing on Tuesday. Photo: Xinhua
Laura Zhou

Beijing and Tehran should stand together against “unilateralism and bullying”, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Iranian counterpart in the Chinese capital on Tuesday.

“The unilateral withdrawal by the US from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, giving up on its international commitment and [attempts] to exert maximum pressure on Iran are the sources of the current tension arising over the Iranian nuclear issue,” a statement from China’s foreign ministry quoted Wang as saying to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif when the pair met in Beijing.

Wang was referring to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal under which Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the US agreed to lift sanctions on Tehran in exchange for limiting its nuclear programme.

US President Donald Trump walked away from the deal last year, saying it was a flawed agreement. After Iran rejected US demands to stop enriching all uranium and halt its support for militant groups in the region, Washington reimposed economic sanctions on the country including an oil export ban.

During talks in Beijing, Wang Yi (right) told Mohammad Javad Zarif (left) that China would “oppose any unilateralism and bullying behaviour”. Photo: Reuters
During talks in Beijing, Wang Yi (right) told Mohammad Javad Zarif (left) that China would “oppose any unilateralism and bullying behaviour”. Photo: Reuters

Wang told Zarif, who arrived in Beijing after a visit to Moscow, that the parties involved in the pact should “withstand external pressure and deal with disputes through dialogue and negotiations in order to continue safeguarding and implementing the comprehensive deal”.

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