China's one belt and one road initiative: Iranian perspectives on the new silk road strategy

Joharchi, S. ORCID: 0000-0003-3013-2146, 2016. China's one belt and one road initiative: Iranian perspectives on the new silk road strategy. The Journal of China and the World.

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Abstract

Within the framework of China’s global rise, the 'One Belt, One Road' initiative launched by Xi Jinping in 2013 can be seen as marking a proactive turn in its foreign policy. Whilst it is interesting to consider such developments in relation to China’s evolution into a major power, it is equally useful in relation to assessments of how Chinese policy is perceived, and responded to, externally. The focus of this paper is to assess the nature of Chinese-Iranian relations – in terms of both transformation and continuity – as impacted by this new Silk Road initiative. Rhetoric concerning China's and Iran's shared historical experiences, civilizational lineage and friendly interactions run parallel to concrete motivations and ambitions. Using a Holistic Constructivist framework and cognitive foreign policy analysis, Iranian foreign policy aims and the points at which PRC-IRI interests converge, will be assessed in order to understand Iranian perceptions of China's 'One Belt, One Road' initiative. Iran is a pariah state of sorts, being at the mercy of numerous economic sanctions and so, in turn and combined with domestic pressures and structural inadequacies, is at the mercy of globalization. The New Silk Road, combined with developments in the P5+1 talks regarding Iran’s nuclear capabilities and the potential scaling back of such sanctions (Scott, 2015), offer many significant opportunities and implications for the Islamic Republic. These will be assessed in the paper to identify existing PRC-IRI relations and interactions and the potential opportunities and transformations offered by Xi Jinxing's policy.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	The Journal of China and the World
Creators:	Joharchi, S.
Date:	2016
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Linda Sullivan
Date Added:	16 Jan 2017 13:47
Last Modified:	12 Sep 2018 10:50
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/29715

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