Historic contribution of China-mediated Iran-Saudi normalization

Editor's note: Wang Jin, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is an associate professor at Northwest University of China. The article reflects the author's opinion and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

With China's successful mediation, China, Saudi Arabia and Iran released a joint statement on March 11, 2023, reflecting the normalization of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran has withstood time and criticism in 2023, and successfully led to mutual trust among countries in the Middle East; it has also greatly led to a decrease in regional conflicts.

Since 2011, the political trust between Saudi Arabia and Iran has been subjected to multiple challenges, which ultimately led to the "severance of diplomatic relations" between Saudi Arabia and Iran in 2017.

First, the long-standing ideological confrontation between Saudi Arabia and Iran is the deeply-rooted reason for the breakdown of relations between the two countries. After the  Iranian Revolution in 1979, also known as the Islamic Revolution, Iran criticized Saudi Arabia's political system; the Saudis followed the conservative Sunni Wahhabism, which is opposed to the Shiite doctrine practiced in Iran. Contradictions between the two countries escalated unavoidably, and political and religious-cultural clashes polarized public opinion.

Besides, mistrust and divisions between Saudi Arabia and Iran significantly increased on a range of regional issues. The Saudis and Iran are in fierce competition over Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and other issues by supporting different political and military organizations.

At the same time, Saudi Arabia suspects that Iran is secretly seeking nuclear weapons and missile capabilities, and hopes to draw in the United States and Israel to contain Iran; Iran criticizes Saudi Arabia for undermining the unity of the Islamic world.

Moreover, Saudi Arabia and Iran's different regional allies exacerbate the conflict between the two countries. A broken diplomatic relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran in 2017 harmed both countries' own interests. After years of involvement in the Yemeni civil war, Saudi Arabia failed to help the Yemeni government defeat the Yemeni Houthis, and its own national security has suffered seriously. Iran has become increasingly isolated by Arab countries with severe domestic economic problems.

Against this backdrop, China helped Iran and Saudi Arabia bridge their differences and start the process of normalizing relations, which strongly reshaped both the regional and international order.

The normalization of Saudi-Iranian relations has contributed to the continued détente of relations in the Middle East. It has promoted the cooling of the civil war in Yemen, pushed the de-escalation of the Syrian issue, and played an important role in cooling the situation in the Gulf region.

Although the normalization of Saudi-Iranian relations has weathered challenges in the Middle East, voices of skepticism abounded. Some argued that the détente would be short-lived and unsustainable, while others argued that a resurgence of regional conflict would rekindle animosity between the two countries.

But that's an unnecessary concern as facts show. For example, after the outbreak of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict last year, Iran and Saudi Arabia joined other regional countries in calling for a ceasefire and an end to the war in international multilateral mechanisms such as the United Nations and the Islamic Cooperation Council.

As a responsible power in the international community, China has always been concerned about the Middle East situation and hopes to play a positive and constructive role – as it has always done in working with countries in the region to resolve conflicts and contradictions and find a path to development based on the principles of common cause, mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, contributing to the peace and stability of the Middle East countries.

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