6.6.2024
Turkiye's FM in Xinjiang, Xinhua interview with Palestinian FM, China, Russia & Iran respond to IAEA
Lots of coverage of Turkish FM’s visit to China.
(FM Fidan in Urumqi Grand Bazaar, June 5, 2024)
China eyes closer ties with Turkey to take on global 'power politics' - South China Morning Post. Beyond the usual talking points - cooperate to “to oppose all forms of hegemony and power politics, and to maintain the stability of the global supply chain” - the story here is momentum for Turkiye in BRICS, which got support from Moscow.
Building comprehensive, high-level China-Turkey ties in fundamental interests of both countries: Wang Yi - Global Times. Fidan hits all of China’s key points, or at least the official readout does. I added the bold italics; this is clearly a reference to Uighurs.
Fidan said that Turkey and China have important influence in their regions and globally. The Turkish government attaches great importance to its relations with China, adheres to the one-China principle, and supports China in safeguarding its core interests and major concerns.
China's development is crucial to world peace and prosperity. Turkey opposes bloc confrontation, does not agree with or support erroneous actions that suppress China's development, and does not allow any force to engage in activities on Turkish territory that harm China's sovereignty and security, said Fidan.
Turkish FM sees major role for Türkiye, China in supply chain - Daily Sabah. The talk of supply chains in several of the Turkiye stories this week are referring to the Middle Corridor:
Fidan discussed the Trans-Caspian East-West Middle Corridor Initiative. This trade route will start from Türkiye and reach China via the Caucasus, Caspian Sea and Central Asia, parallel to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Fidan noted that the initiative, also called the Middle Corridor, provides a land route approximately 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) shorter than the sea route between Europe and Asia, reducing travel time by 15 days. He also emphasized the Middle Corridor's benefits in uninterrupted and rapid access to the Black Sea and Mediterranean basins as well as other regions of Europe and Africa. Fidan also pointed to a memorandum of understanding signed between Türkiye and China in 2015 to harmonize and enhance cooperation between the two initiatives. Underlining the importance of aligning the Middle Corridor with China's Belt and Road Initiative, especially given the ongoing Russia-Ukraine War and conflicts in the Red Sea and Gaza, he noted that the project has become even more crucial amid increasing geopolitical risks.
Senior Xinjiang officials meet visiting Turkish FM in Urumqi - ECNS. Party Secretary of Xinjiang Ma Xingrui: “Terrorism is the enemy of humanity and has previously harmed social stability and people's safety in the Xinjiang region, said Ma, noting that "we are willing to deepen cooperation with Turkey to jointly combat separatism, terrorism, and extremism." ECRS has FM Fidan noting that “during his visit to China's Xinjiang region, he observed well-developed urban facilities, social prosperity, and good protection of various ethnic cultures and languages…Turkey's stance on Xinjiang-related issues is clear and firm. It resolutely opposes terrorism, does not support or participate in anti-China activities using ethnic issues, and does not allow activities in Turkey that harm China's security or undermine China's territorial integrity.”
FM Fidan pays highest-level Turkish visit to Xinjiang since 2012 - The Daily Sabah. Reporting from the press conference Fidan held with FM Wang Yi this week, when discussing his upcoming trip to Kashgar and Urumqi: “These cities act as a bridge between China and the Turkic world, China and the Islamic world. They are symbols of our ancient friendship and neighborhood. The togetherness of communities and people is the greatest wealth of strong states.”
The Washington Post and Fox News both hit the Uighur issue hard in the headline, although without much detail in their actual coverage. They both cite an anonymous Turkish official who reported Fidan telling Chinese leaders to let the Uighurs "live their values," and that removing the concerns of Uighur human rights “would be of great benefit to everyone”. In any case, a couple of anonymous statements from an official get lost in the sea of images of the FM in Urumqi’s Grand Bazaar.
When FM Wang Yi last visited Turkiye in March 2021, he was greeted by 300 demonstrators chanting “Stop Uygur Genocide, Close the Camps”. A modest level of scrutiny, but like I wrote on Monday, this is a very tough needle for the Turkish government to thread.
Follow-up on Israel-Palestine from CASCF:
Interview: Palestine appreciates China's firm support for its just cause, official says - Xinhua. Not an interview so much as Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, Palestinian Authority state minister for foreign affairs and expatriates, listing PRC talking points. She does refer to the peace conference that China has been promoting for several months:
"We also stress the importance of China's call to convene an international peace conference with broader participation, greater credibility and effectiveness," Shahin said. "We believe that such a conference can be a platform to revive the peace process and achieve real progress towards the two-state solution."
Given the tone of last week’s Forum and the one-sided Joint Statement of China and Arab Countries on the Palestinian Issue, it is very hard to imagine a scenario in which Israel is going to participate in such a conference. Which limits its utility if the goal is a political solution to the conflict. Otherwise it would really just be a pageant to position China with a large block of countries without making a genuine effort to fix anything.
For context, here’s China's position paper on resolving Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which was released on November 30 2023.
Iran and the IAEA
Confrontation will not solve Iran nuclear issue: Chinese envoy - Xinhua. The International Atomic Energy Agency censured Iran on Wednesday for “failing to cooperate completely”. This follows a report last week that said Iran has further increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels. Li Song, the PRC’s representative to the IAEA reiterated China’s preference for a return to the JCPoA: "Facts have proved time and again that creating confrontation and exerting pressure will not solve the (Iran nuclear) issue, but will undermine the cooperation between the IAEA and Iran and further complicate the issue."
China, Iran, and Russia issue joint statement on Iran nuclear monitoring at IAEA session - Nour News. Not surprising, but in response to the IAEA censure, China, Russia and Iran released a joint statement, putting the blame for Iran’s enrichment on the “the unlawful and unilateral withdrawal of the United States from the agreement and the imposition of unilateral and illegal sanctions and exertion of the maximum pressure policy against Iran”. From the statement:
We (China, Russia & Iran) spared no effort in attempting to restore the JCPOA, participating in nine rounds of negotiations here in Vienna. Our three countries confirmed readiness to conclude the agreement on the restoration of the agreement based on the text of August 2022. Unfortunately, other participants of the JCPOA – France, Germany and the UK – as well as the United States, despite their promises, chose a different course of action, foregoing our shared goal of resumption of the JCPOA implementation for the sake of their own political considerations.
Not China-related, but this new policy brief from the European Council on Foreign Relations from Hamidreza Azizi and Julien Barnes-Dorsey looks great: Beyond proxies: Iran’s deeper strategy in Syria and Lebanon.