“Everything is going well, everyone. [Iranian] People care about each other and talk about politics. It’s like China 20 to 30 years ago,” Liang said.
Liang, a 27-year-old consultant from Shanghai, chose Iran as her first destination after COVID-19 restrictions were eased and is the first Chinese to visit the country since Tehran waived visa requirements in 2019. The number of tourists has increased.
China and Iran sign police pledge during Iranian police chief’s visit to Beijing
China and Iran sign police pledge during Iranian police chief’s visit to Beijing
This comes as both countries face an increasingly hostile international environment and hostility from the West.
Growing relations between China and Iran
The Chinese government’s public diploma initiative in Iran dates back to 2016, when President Xi Jinping called for stronger exchanges in the fields of culture, education, journalism, publishing, and tourism before his state visit to Iran.
Raisi expressed the same opinion seven years later. Before visiting China in early 2023, he said that China and Iran will promote people-to-people exchanges and that the people of both countries will “get to know each other directly in a new era” instead of “getting to know each other through three years”. I wrote that it should be possible to do so. party”.
Since the two leaders met last year, the two countries have held at least 10 high-level talks focused on such exchanges, according to data collected by the newspaper.
In October, Lu Yingchuan, vice minister of China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, signed a five-year implementation plan for cultural and educational exchanges in Iran.
Huang Honda, a professor at the School of Middle East Studies at Shanghai University of International Studies, said efforts to strengthen public diplomacy between China and Iran have bridged the gap in the two countries’ fast-growing economic and diplomatic relations.
“China and Iran are both facing many development difficulties, and their mutual needs are very strong.However, in actual cooperation, there is a notable feature that there is much government cooperation and not enough private exchanges. ” he said.
Beijing and Tehran are now closer than ever. Despite US sanctions, China’s oil imports from Iran increased by 48% in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period last year, making Iran the third-largest oil supplier after Saudi Arabia and Angola.
Escape from economic isolation
Iran became a member of the Beijing-led security bloc Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in July and will officially join BRICS this year.
Fan added that a lack of people-to-people interaction will limit the effectiveness of government cooperation. “Therefore, both countries hope to expand civil exchanges in the fields of culture and education,” he said.
China and Iran promise cooperation ahead of BRICS summit
China and Iran promise cooperation ahead of BRICS summit
Alex Vatanka, founding director of the Iran Program at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, said both China and Iran are keen to increase their presence in each other’s societies, but for different reasons.
He said that for China, a greater presence in Iran is part of Beijing’s ambitions and strategy to play a larger role in the Middle East.
As for Iran, due to its deteriorating image in the West, Tehran needs to attract Chinese help, especially in the tourism sector, Batanka said.
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Iranian girl in critical condition after allegedly having contact with morality police
Iranian girl in critical condition after allegedly having contact with morality police
Both countries appear to be making progress toward their goals. According to Ali Asghar Sharbafian, deputy minister of Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, about 50,000 Chinese tourists visited Iran in the first seven months of 2023, compared to 1,400 in the same period in 2019. A small number of people visited Iran.
The official added that even though the coronavirus pandemic has ended, most of the foreign tourists currently visiting Iran are Chinese, as the number of tourists from other countries has not yet recovered. Ta.
Academic ties between China and Iran
China’s efforts to transform from an economic partner to a powerful player in all aspects of Iran are also bearing fruit, especially in the academic and educational fields.
Nika, an Iranian master’s student studying in Zhengzhou in central China, said there are about 1,000 Iranian students in the city. Before the pandemic, that number was only about 50.
Nika said Iranian students believe that “Chinese universities are pretty good” and that tuition fees are not too expensive. He added that of the 1,000 Iranian students in China, “only a few dozen” received scholarships, most of them privately funded.
Chinese learning boom as China expands soft power in Middle East
Chinese learning boom as China expands soft power in Middle East
Nika, who will begin studying for a doctoral program in Shanghai in September, said, “When many people found out that I was studying abroad in China, they supported me and made me want to study abroad in China.” . She added that most of her friends and family think that “China is a very developed country.”
Saideh Zarin, a doctoral student studying Chinese history in Shanghai, said that while most Iranian students in China focus on Chinese, more and more students are choosing science fields such as medicine. He said that
Zarin studied Chinese as an undergraduate at Isfahan University. This university is one of only two universities in Iran that offer Chinese as a major while enrolled, the other being Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran. Since then, his two other universities in Iran started offering Chinese as a major.
The Chinese learning boom is not limited to domestic universities. In Iran, Chinese is scheduled to be introduced as an optional language in secondary schools from 2024.
During Raisi’s visit to Beijing in early 2023, the two countries agreed to strengthen Chinese and Persian language education in each other’s countries. China also agreed to provide international scholarships to Iranian Chinese language teachers.
Different views of China in Iran
However, analysts said the exchange did not necessarily succeed in the Chinese and Iranian governments’ goal of projecting a positive image to the public in each country.
John Calabrese, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute and an associate professor at American University, said Iranians’ views of China are “very different” and tend to be influenced by their position on the Iranian government. .
“Some may see China’s development model as a source of imitation and believe that stronger economic ties with China and other Asian countries are highly desirable,” he said.
‘Truth’: China aims to build soft power through cultural counterattack
‘Truth’: China aims to build soft power through cultural counterattack
“No doubt some are wary of China, concerned that the economic relationship is already, or is likely to become, unbalanced. Some people are probably disappointed by the slow implementation.
“Similarly, I would like to point out that there are diverse opinions within Iran regarding China’s political system.”
Zarin, a doctoral student in Shanghai, said most ordinary Iranians have a “very vague impression of China”, with some harboring negative ideas spread by foreign media. said.
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The 2023 Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded to Iranian women’s rights activist Narges Mohammadi
The 2023 Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded to Iranian women’s rights activist Narges Mohammadi
” [Iranian] People are influenced by international news. It’s not China’s fault, but some Iranians are dissatisfied with their government, so no matter which government has good relations with Tehran. [they] “Of course you hate the country,” she said.
But Vatanka said China’s efforts to counter other rhetoric in Iran have been ineffective.
“I don’t see China playing a big role in public diplomacy. It’s not clear in the Iranian media. If you look on the internet, there isn’t much mention of China’s independent efforts in public diplomacy.
“So even if it was done, it was done quietly, which means it’s not very effective.”
Iran launches satellite as part of plan criticized by West
Iran launches satellite as part of plan criticized by West
Despite government restrictions, Iranians have easy access to international Persian-language media based in London and Washington, including BBC Persian, Batanka said.
“They are [the Western media] It is the most popular program watched by ordinary Iranians. Ordinary Iranians don’t watch Chinese programs. “This is something that China can work hard to resolve,” he said.
Friction between the people and the government
Fan, a native of Shanghai, said directing exchanges through officially sanctioned channels is another hurdle in China’s overhaul of its image in Iran.
“In some countries, the relationship between the government and the people is not good, and in such cases the people tend to distrust government-led actions,” he said.
“This phenomenon also exists in Iran, so it is difficult to rely solely on government-to-government or government-led communication to achieve mutual recognition among the people.”
Alireza Khoshrou, a senior researcher at the Islamic Cultural Affairs Organization of Iran, agreed, saying that until both countries prioritize public diplomacy based on “scientific principles,” the current approach will remain “propaganda-like.” He added that it would be.
“Iran lacks the necessary infrastructure to fully understand China, especially in the scientific field of public diplomacy and people-to-people exchanges. It will take at least a decade for Iran to develop this understanding. Let’s go.”
According to Vatanka, China and Iran need to strengthen the basis of their cooperation, as their shared anti-American and anti-Western sentiments are currently the main driving force.
“There are inherent limits to how close these entities can move together.” He said the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Communist Party of China are completely different entities, adding that “anti-Americanism and anti-Western ” he added. [sentiment] This is a very important element in connecting China and Iran. ”
“This alone will not be enough to maintain close ties in the long term. We need to deepen our ties further.” “And we can only deepen that further by appealing to the Iranian people as well.”
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