China's high-profile support for Iran's membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) shows a commitment to the future, argues Zhou Xiaoping 周小平, a popular nationalist online commentator.
SCO's security network will ultimately cover the Gulf and even reach the Mediterranean and Black Sea areas, he says, effectively restricting NATO's eastward expansion.
The Middle East and Central Asia are destined to be somewhat unstable, argues Zhou, given their role as a bridge between Europe and Asia and major energy sources. As competition over these areas increases, he warns, chances of conflict in North- and Southeast Asia will decrease. China will rely on East Asia for basic security, while its economic future lies in the west. If these areas descend into chaos, Belt and Road (B&R) land routes into the Gulf and Mediterranean areas will be severely affected, Zhou warns.
Iran, Zhou points out, is crucially important, and the focus of several recent crises. The terrorist incident whereby two Chinese teachers were kidnapped and later killed by ISIS took place in Baluchistan, a Pakistani province bordered by Iran. The Qatar diplomatic crisis is, he argues, rooted in Qatar's advocacy of Gulf countries peacefully coexisting with Iran. The ultimate aim of both events is blocking China's access to land routes to the Gulf and Mediterranean.
High-profile support for Iran's membership of the SCO is, Zhou says, China's commitment to the future. Tajikistan's opposition to this shows the complicated nature of the Middle East, but B&R will help to overcome it. SCO is mainly a counter-terrorism organisation, he notes, but it also forms a security network. With India and Pakistan having joined, SCO has extended its reach from mainland Asia towards the Middle East and Central Asia. Iran's membership would imply, Zhou predicts, other Gulf states joining in due course. SCO would then cover the Gulf, even reaching the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions, effectively restricting eastward expansion of NATO. China and Russia were, he notes, furious when Montenegro recently joined NATO.
Note: Dismissed as a '50 cent-er' by critics, (paid pro-Party internet commentator) Zhou Xiaoping was singled out by Xi Jinping 习近平 in 2014 and has risen in the Youth League.