By Dr. Sawraj Singh

          Iran and China are working on a deal worth 400 billion dollars. Iran will sell its oil at a concession price for the next 25 years. In return, China will develop Iran's infrastructure such as building roads, railway lines, airports, seaports and developing other means of communication. China can also help Iran develop and enhance Iran's military capabilities. China and Iran will become strategic allies like Russia and China have become. For all practical purposes, an axis of Russia, China and Iran has emerged. We can call it a true Eurasian alliance.                                                                                                                                     

                If we look at the history of the Eurasian region, it has always been the leading region of the world. In the last two centuries, the center of power shifted to the west. First, western Europe and then America became the leading region of the world. However, it has become apparent that the center of power has now shifted to the east. The 21st century is Asia's century. Eurasia is also a part of Asia's century. Russia is an integral part of the rise of the east and of Asia's century.         

                                                          

                It has been our biggest tragedy that the Indian elite; which includes the economic, the political and intellectual elite, has always had its orientation toward the west. Therefore, it has been unable to grasp the two major trends of today's world: the rise of the east and decline of the west, as well as the shift of power from the west to the east. It cannot accept that an Asian country, China, can beat a western country, America, and become the most powerful country in the world; and America will not remain the most powerful country forever. Naturally, India wants to ally with the most powerful country in the world. This unrealistic faith in America has not only pitted us against China, but also made us lose a very close and time-tested friend, Iran. We have given more importance to our relations with America than our neighbors. Because of this policy, our relations with almost all of our neighbors have become strained.                                                                                                                                                                                  

                Iran and India have a very long history of friendship. Both of them are of Indo European (Aryan ) descent. They have maintained close cultural and economic relations throughout history. For example, two queens that were very popular in Indian history were both Iranians: Noor Jehan and Mumtaz Mahal. The well-known Parsi community that has been living in India for hundreds of years also came from Iran. India has a sizeable Shia Muslim community that has very close relations with Iran, the leading Shia country in the world. Iran gave India the best possible deal for buying Iranian oil. Not only India got it for a very cheap rate, it could pay in Rupees. However, under American pressure, India stopped buying oil from Iran. China is developing the port of Gwadar in Pakistan. To counter its impact, India signed an agreement  with Iran to develop the port of Chabahar, that is less than 200 kms from Gwadar. India was also going to lay a railway line from Chabahar to Zehdan, close to the border of Afghanistan, 628 kms long. Afghanistan is linked to the Central Asian countries. Therefore, this port and the railway line were going to play a very important role in India's trade with the Central Asian countries.                                                       

                Iran has decided to cancel the railway line deal with India that was worth 1.6 billion dollars. Not only that is a big financial loss for India, it is a loss of prestige also. Moreover, the potential loss of trade with Central Asia as well as an opportunity of access to Afghanistan and central Asia bypassing Pakistan is being lost.       

                                                                                                                                      

                When we look at our neighboring countries like Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Burma and Sri Lanka, we cannot help feeling that these countries are tilting toward China. While the economy of most of the countries in the world is contracting, the Chinese economy has shown a 3.2% growth. While America is pulling out of the WHO, China is increasing its contribution to the WHO. It is also giving 2 billion dollars to other countries for dealing with the corona pandemic. All this shows that while American influence in the world is decreasing, Chinese influence is increasing. We feel that America is punishing China by imposing economic sanctions and by bringing its war ships into South China sea. However, some American and western experts feel that America has already lost the ability to contain China and prevent it from becoming a super power.                                                                                                                                                       

                 We should base our policies on objective realities rather than our subjective feelings. Neighbors are more important than distant powers. We should not abandon our time-trusted friends under pressure from a power that is on the retreat and whose influence is on the decline. Iran-China deal should lead us to a serious and sincere introspection so that we can change some of our policies that are proving to be wrong, and we should strive to do a better job.        

   

 Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S. is the Chairman of the Washington State Network for Human Rights and Chairman of the Central Washington Coalition for Social Justice. He can be reached at sawrajsingh@hotmail.com.