Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is scheduled to visit Beijing on Wednesday to meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi for talks on Wednesday as China is pressing for a diplomatic solution to the conflict between Iran and the United States.
During the visit, Araghchi will have talks with Wang Yi, China’s Foreign Minister, the country’s Foreign Ministry said. This meeting was also held between the two foreign ministers on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in New Delhi last week.
The visit coincides with Beijing’s ongoing calls for political and diplomatic efforts to end the conflict. The relevant parties should resolve their differences through political and diplomatic means, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said Tuesday.
China is a key economic ally of Iran and is purchasing a significant portion of its oil exports. Beijing has also been closely engaging Tehran diplomatically, and in the past pushed for negotiations to end the conflict and ease the shipping disruption through the Strait of Hormuz.
Araghchi’s visit coincides with a gathering between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Sept. 24, which is anticipated. Among the topics slated for discussion is also the Iran war, along with trade and competition, in fields such as artificial intelligence.
The visit also comes at a time when there are escalating tensions between the United States and China regarding claims that Chinese institutions supplied satellite data to Iran that was used in an attack on a U.S. military base in Jordan last month. The allegations are “totally unfounded,” Beijing has said, and it has “strong objections” to accusations made without evidence.
Washington has also threatened to take action if Beijing supplies arms to Iran and has already slapped three firms based in the Chinese capital with sanctions for alleged assistance with Iran’s military efforts.
Araghchi’s meeting with Wang will thus be held in the context of the Iran war and the growing US-China diplomatic interaction.
Source; According to the statement by Al Arabiya, based on China’s Foreign Ministry statement.
