Events
The strategic relationship between China and Iran: Challenges for the US and Europe 19 November 2009
Clingendael Seminar in Nieuwspoort, 11.30-14.00 hrs
On 19 November, Clingendael Asia Studies will hold a seminar on the strategic relationship between China and Iran, and the challenges this alliance poses to the US and Europe. Over the past decade the two countries have steadily expanded and deepened their political and economic ties. China needs Iran’s energy resources; Iran needs consumer goods and investments in its oil and gas industry from China. Politically the relationship is based on the mutual trust and understanding between ancient partners who share the ideological and strategic goal of building a post-Western-dominated Asia. The US and Europe, however, need China’s cooperation to pressure Iran on its nuclear programme. While China will do its best to balance its relations with Iran and the West, it stiffly opposes sanctions on Iran, thus disrupting European and American attempts to pose a united front against Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
The seminar is held on the occasion of Willem van Kemenade’s most recent publication: Iran’s Relations with China and the West; Cooperation and Confrontation in Asia. (Clingendael Diplomacy Paper No. 24).
Speakers: Willem van Kemenade Senior Visiting Fellow, Clingendael Diplomatic Studies Programme; and Paul Aarts, Lecturer in International Relations, Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam.
The panel will be chaired by Professor Jan Melissen, Head of the Clingendael Diplomatic Studies Programme and Clingendael Asia Studies.