Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian met briefly with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in an encounter that received far less attention from Chinese state media than similar meetings Xi held with other leaders at the gathering.
The SCO summit brought together several major Asian leaders in Bishkek, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin, along with Pezeshkian and Xi. The security and economic coalition, in which Iran holds membership, is used heavily by Russia and China to project regional influence, and analysts had expected the summit to give Iran a public show of support from Beijing and Moscow amid its ongoing standoff with the United States, which has included heavy American sanctions.
Putin and Xi both held meetings with Pezeshkian, Modi and other Central Asian leaders during the summit. But no strong public display of unity between China and Iran emerged. Iranian state media instead released a photograph of Xi standing next to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, appearing to have been approached by Pezeshkian and the Iranian delegation in a hallway rather than in a formal setting.
Iranian outlets described the encounter only as a “brief meeting on the sidelines” of the summit. The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported: “According to the Iranian presidency, the two presidents met on Tuesday during the summit’s programs and held talks for several minutes. No further details were released about the content of their conversation.”
State-linked Mehr News offered a similarly brief account, saying the two leaders “discussed the bilateral ties in line with strengthening relations between Tehran and Beijing.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who also attended the summit, said on social media that he held “talks with Eurasian, Chinese, and South Asian dignitaries” to press Iran’s position in its conflict with the United States, but did not detail any specific meeting.
China’s Xinhua News Agency had not reported on the Xi-Pezeshkian meeting as of publication. Xinhua’s coverage instead highlighted Xi’s formal meetings with the leaders of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, as well as his meeting with Putin, all of which appear to have followed the standard format of a scheduled sit-down photographed in front of both nations’ flags. Xi’s departure from Bishkek for Egypt on Tuesday received more prominent coverage from Xinhua than his meeting with the Iranian president.
By contrast, Modi publicized his own meeting with Pezeshkian at the summit, posting photographs and signaling India’s interest in expanding trade with Iran.
Wider Chinese diplomacy in the region
China has long relied on Iranian oil imports and has been a longstanding partner of Tehran, but its influence in the Middle East has faced strain over the past two years, partly linked to disruptions in shipping through the Strait of Hormuz that have reduced Iranian oil shipments to China. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has repeatedly called for an end to the broader conflict and urged Iran to stop disrupting shipping, without visible results.
After leaving Bishkek, Xi traveled to Egypt for meetings with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi focused on expanding business ties, with discussions also expected to touch on how instability linked to Iran has affected Egypt’s economy. Ahead of his visit, Xi published an editorial in Egyptian media stating: “Today, China and Egypt have shared goals and common aspirations in upholding international order, championing fairness and justice, and practicing multilateralism. We need to enhance mutual trust and serve as a model in carrying forward friendship. The friendship between our two countries was forged by the elder generations of our leaders. It is our honor and responsibility to carry forward, develop, and promote this friendship.”
Last week, before his trip to Bishkek, Xi hosted Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Beijing. The two signed several trade agreements, and King Abdullah invited Chinese companies to invest in Jordan, a country that has previously been targeted by Iranian strikes in response to U.S. military action against Iranian-linked forces.
