Iraqi-Chinese relations and the post-establishment of the 2015 Strategic Partnership

27/8/2018 12:00 am

First Secretary / Dr. Baher Mardan - official and expert profile of China - Department of Asia and Australia / Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iraq
In general, the strategic direction is intended to outline the goals, objectives and plans to be implemented in order to achieve the highest interests and requirements of the Iraqi national security for the next phase, which is set in time ranges ranging from 3 - 10 years according to the strategic perspective.
The Iraqi foreign policy, including diplomacy in the past few years, is a counter-terrorism diplomacy, that is, it has moved regionally, internationally and at the bilateral and multilateral levels to mobilize the material support of Iraq to fight terrorism and fight terrorist organizations under the pretext that Iraq is fighting terrorism on behalf of the world. This diplomacy has achieved its goal and reached the stage of ending the fighting and urging the start of a new phase based on the strategic orientation of sustainable development diplomacy for the post-liberation areas controlled by terrorism in Iraq N for the reconstruction of the affected areas and most importantly the foundations for national security and sustainable.
Iraqi-Chinese relations
China has a long history and civilization rooted in the depths of history, which dates back more than six thousand years BC, as this civilization provided mankind with achievements such as compass, gunpowder and others, as is the case with the Iraqi civilization, which dates back to about 7,000 years BC, The ancient first democracies and the world through which the writing, science and arts, the two countries of the Great Wall of China and Mesopotamia provided a human and human heritage worldwide will undoubtedly extend beyond the future.
Mesopotamia and China date back more than 2,000 years. The ancient Silk Road, the route that begins from China to cross the mountains, plains and valleys to reach Khorasan and then to Iraq, is the most important route for convoys to Europe and North Africa.
The Silk Road flourished after the days of the Islamic state, especially when Baghdad was the capital of the Abbasid state. It represented the city of science, art, commerce and architectural beauty. Its reputation as a source of inspiration, light and the heart of the pulsating world and the link between the world of East and West. And fruitful all the meaning of the word meaning that the threads of this relationship has been woven by trade and the desire to exchange goods and interests and thus both sides knew each other and civilized dialogue.
As for contemporary history, the relations between Iraq and China began at the end of the 1950s. On 16/7/1958, the official relations were established. The Chinese government then sent a telegram to its Iraqi counterpart, which has ascended to power in Iraq, to ​​recognize it. China's strategic, political and historical necessity for Iraq's strategic geopolitical status in the region and its role in establishing the United Nations and the League of Arab States. It is not surprising when the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong mentioned the important role of developing and Arab countries in supporting the People's Republic of China, "The developing countries have put us on the shoulders of the United Nations."
Diplomatic relations between Iraq and China were established on 25/8/1958. It is the same day and month that we celebrate this year for sixty years of the establishment of diplomatic relations between these two ancient countries. Both sides exchanged ambassadors officially in 1960 and since then the two countries have exchanged contacts, Trade, economy, culture, sports and other fields. This cooperation continued during the 1980s, especially in the military field due to the circumstances of that decade.
In the last decade of the twentieth century, China had special positions with the beginning of the second Gulf crisis and the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein on August 2, 1990. China abstained from voting on UN Resolution 678. The Chinese government believed that peaceful solutions should be adopted in resolving the crisis. Was mainly due to the Chinese decision maker's understanding of the importance of establishing balanced relations between Iraq on the one hand and the United States of America on the other
On the other hand .

After 2003, China recognized the support of the Iraqi government. China welcomed the formation of the Iraqi Governing Council since its announcement. It supported Iraq's efforts to restore public order and the Iraqi people exercise their rights, protect their independence and sovereignty and preserve their territorial integrity.
In recognition of the importance of strengthening bilateral relations, the two sides resolved to exchange high-level visits. The visit of the late Iraqi President Jalal Talabani (then member of the Governing Council) to China
Which was the first seed to build relations with China in the post-2003 period. The Chinese government stressed the importance of the reconstruction of Iraq. After this visit, high-level visits between Beijing and Baghdad followed. The late president repeated his visit again. To China in 2007, which was the signing of several agreements and memorandums of understanding and most importantly signing the agreement to cancel the debts of Iraq.
Among the important stations of relations between Iraq and China is the visit of former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in mid-2011 and then the visits of the ministers of foreign affairs, oil, reconstruction and housing, as well as visit various delegations of Iraqi political and cultural parties.
In mid-2015, the visit of Dr. Ibrahim al-Ashikar al-Jaafari, Minister of Foreign Affairs, to the People's Republic of China and to meet with his Chinese counterpart to discuss ways to develop relations and improve and win the support of friends after the gangs took control of the terrorist on the city of Mosul. This important visit paved the way for the visit of the Prime Minister Dr. Haider al-Abadi, the end of 2015, which is the most important station in the history of Iraqi-Chinese relations as relations have risen from the traditional to the strategic.
On the Beijing side, several senior Chinese officials visited Baghdad. The most important visit was the visit of former Deputy Foreign Minister Zhai Jun in 2011, followed by the visit of Wang Yi, the current Chinese Foreign Minister in 2014, as well as the visit of Mr. Yang Jiechi, The Chinese state by the end of 2014 and the visit of the Chinese envoy on the Middle East issue in 2016.
As for the achievements of the post-2003 period of Iraqi-Chinese relations, they were mainly represented in the increase in the volume of trade exchanges from 500 million dollars in 2004 to 22 billion dollars in 2017. Thus, China is the first trading partner of Iraq, As well as progress in other areas of relations. Several strategic agreements and memorandums of understanding have been signed in the fields of oil, energy, education, culture, sports and reconstruction of infrastructure, which were the natural result of the meetings of the Iraqi Commission - Chinese joint during 2007 and 2016, and actually entered the Chinese companies strongly to Iraq by the end of 2017, amounting to more than 45 companies operating in most sectors, especially the strategic sectors of them.
During the visit of the Prime Minister in 2015, as mentioned above, the establishment of the strategic partnership between Iraq and China and the signing of an agreement and several memorandums of understanding, the most important of which was Iraq's participation in pushing forward the construction of the Silk Road Economic Initiative, was announced. And won the support of the most important partners of global strategists on the one hand, and the real confrontation to challenge the control of gangs and advocates of terrorism in light of the decline in oil prices globally, creating a real financial crisis on the other hand, but Iraq and his government and thanks to his sons of the armed forces and The popular crowd, the clans and the peshmerga, and the constant assertion that Iraq is fighting terrorism on behalf of the world, has been achieved, and these criminal groups
And behavior.
Therefore, the diplomacy of winning partners and friends has achieved its purpose, especially with the government of the People's Republic of China, providing humanitarian aid estimated at 300 million yuan, equivalent to 50 million dollars in order to reduce the burden on the Iraqi government and continues to provide these
Assistance.

After the victory of the Iraqi government in 2017 against the terrorist groups, China, represented by President Xi Jinping, congratulated Iraq and its government on this important victory, which is considered a major achievement in the fight against terrorism in Iraq and the world at large. To the Iraqi government, stressing the importance of the presence of Chinese companies for the comprehensive reconstruction of cities affected by terrorist operations, and strive to find ways to finance Chinese companies through the provision of guarantees by the Chinese government and To prepare for the submission of investment projects worth $ 10 billion, taking into account the location of Iraq and its role in the map of the strategy of the belt and the Chinese way.


Relationships in the post-strategic partnership
Despite the visit of the Prime Minister to China in 2015, which is one of the important stations in the history of relations between Iraq and China in terms of signing an agreement and several memorandums of understanding and the Declaration of the strategic partnership, but in the post-2015 bilateral relations were not the level of ambition in the side of visits High level, official exchanges, joint coordination or even agreement on the establishment of strategic projects as stated in the joint declaration of the establishment of the strategic partnership between the two countries only traditional trade exchanges and Chinese support for Iraq and the convening of the Iraqi-China Joint Committee in 2 016.
Therefore, in order to develop the reality of the Iraqi-Chinese relations and their prospects in terms of strategy should be working on the implementation of the terms of the Declaration of the strategic partnership Iraq - China through the establishment of a high-level dialogue mechanism (at the level of Foreign Minister or Undersecretary of the Ministry) called (Iraqi-Iraqi strategic dialogue mechanism) And alternately to reflect the strategic partnership into reality.
What is the strategic dialogue?
The dialogue is a high-level dialogue to discuss a wide range of political, strategic, security, economic, bilateral, regional and global issues in the near, medium and long term. Dialogue is a mechanism represented by high-level representatives who meet annually and the dialogue is a great historic opportunity and a strategy for comprehensive and comprehensive communication and cooperation. Reaching the stage of strategic cooperation between the two countries, which means building mutual strategic trust through many channels of exchange and institutionalizing bilateral relations. Therefore, the rationale for the strategic dialogue lies in its importance in terms of planning for the future and the development of mechanisms that mated between the Iraqi strategy based on the need for comprehensive reconstruction and the various strategies of China for the stage
Coming.


The importance of Iraqi-Iraqi strategic dialogue mechanism
In order to assess the pattern and nature of the Iraqi-Chinese relations, the strategic and economic paths between the two countries should be revealed. The strategic path means summarizing the positions, visions, efforts and strategies of both countries on the local, regional and international issues and crises and thus developing effective solutions through matching plans and strategies, Thus, the process of assessing the pattern, nature and size of bilateral relations in the post-2015 period (the declaration of the strategic partnership) indicates that the cooperation between the two countries was not at the required level as agreed upon during the visit in 2015, Lat for the strategic dialogue between Iraq and China alternately means that the bilateral relations between the two countries will witness more understandings and agreements strategically, politically, economically and security.


The chart below shows the level of participation
In the proposed Iraqi-Chinese strategic dialogue mechanism (at ministerial level)


The chart below shows the level of participation
In the proposed Iraqi-Chinese strategic dialogue mechanism (at the level of Undersecretary of the Ministry)
Areas and levels of dialogue
Bilateral relations
Regional Affairs
International Affairs
First: Political Affairs:
• Discuss the strategy of the belt and the Chinese road.
• Mutual support.
• High-level exchanges and visits.
• Agreements and memorandums of understanding.
• Syrian crisis .
• The Yemeni crisis.
• The Iranian nuclear file.
• The Palestinian cause .
• Turkish intervention in Iraq.
• The South China Sea issue.
• Non-proliferation.
• Combating terrorism and extremism.
• Transnational crime.
• Combating drugs and human trafficking.
• Human rights issues.
• UN issues.
Second: Financial Affairs:
• Funding.
• Investment.
• Cooperation in the banking field.
• Financial assistance and grants.

Third: Commercial and Agricultural Affairs:
• Problems and obstacles in the commercial field
• Agricultural technology

Fourth: Security and intelligence affairs:
• Armature.
• Security and intelligence cooperation.
• Memorandums of understanding
• Assistance

Fifth: Energy Affairs:
• Chinese oil companies.
• Oil investments.
• Opportunities.
• Oil industries and refineries.
• Gas production

Sixth: Scientific and Cultural Affairs:
• training courses .
• Scholarships .
The invocation of history and the awareness of the present lead to the extrapolation of the future or look to the future as imminent reality before the occurrence and then can be avoided evil and pre-empting the good things, and this applies to Iraqi-Chinese relations after we recalled its deep history and awareness of its present.
The prospects for the future of the relations between the two countries are based on the deep history and the remarkable reality after it has reached strategic partnership relations. As the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong said, "The Arabs are the brother, the friend and the partner," the horizons will be glowing. The current and subsequent Iraqi governments are fully aware of the importance of their strategic relations with China and its status and its wise role in the regional and international interactions within the international system, while China recognizes the importance of Iraq and its geostrategic, economic and oil position in the map of global interests. It is not wrong for countries to pursue policies and strategies that serve the interests of their peoples. The goals must be achieved through means based on the principles of mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-aggression and non-interference in internal affairs, equality, mutual benefit and peaceful coexistence.
The Chinese government will strive to enhance its investments in various strategic and non-strategic areas in Iraq. All indicators show that bilateral relations will deepen to unprecedented levels, as Iraq pursues a post-victory strategy to advocate the terrorist strategy of eradicating radical ideology and the need for sustainable development. Comprehensive reconstruction and infrastructure development, as well as adopting plans and mechanisms of dialogue to advance the spirit of the Iraq-China strategic partnership to advanced positions.

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