2月14-16日，伊朗總統萊希訪華。由於伊朗幾十年來身處中東反美第一線，長期被美國視為中東地區的“麻煩製造者”，而中美之間近年來關係也不斷走低，近期又因為“氣球事件”引發更強烈的互不信任、甚至敵意，因此，伊朗總統萊希的訪華被一些人看作“世界上兩支重要反美力量的大會師”，中伊要進一步“聯手抗美”。

但事實並非如此。在伊朗總統訪華的同時，中共中央政治局委員、中央外事工作委員會辦公室主任王毅就啟程前往法國、意大利、匈牙利等歐洲國家並參加慕尼黑安全會議，意在加強與歐洲國家的交流。之後王毅還將前往莫斯科，為俄烏衝突降溫及談判解決做出中國的努力。因此，中伊雖然在反霸反強權等方面有很多共識，但目前階段更側重的是挖掘經濟互補潛力，提升相互經濟合作的水平。

首先，伊朗在當前內外壓力下，希望提升與中國在經濟及戰略兩個領域的合作。伊朗總統辦公室政治事務副主任賈姆希迪在萊希訪問前明確表示，萊希總統訪華的目標為經濟和戰略兩個領域。毫無疑問，在經濟領域，雙方應該是推進落實2021年3月中伊簽署的為期25年的中伊全面合作協議，中方承諾將在基礎設施、醫藥衛生以及科技等10多個領域進行總額達4000億美元的投資。由於美國重返伊核協議的談判遲遲未能解決，伊朗仍面臨美西方嚴厲的金融及石油禁運等多項制裁，近年來經濟危機不斷加深，通貨膨脹和貨幣貶值日益嚴重。而中國作為伊朗2022年最大出口目的國和第二大進口來源國，自然是其進一步加強經濟合作的首選目標。此前伊朗方面曾公布近兩年得到的外國投資數目，中國投資額為1.85億美元，顯然距離伊朗的預期還有不少距離。

此次萊希訪華率領了包括外長、石油部長、經濟部長、交通和城市發展部長、農業部長、央行行長等成員在內的高級別政治經濟代表團。萊希本人臨行前也發表講話稱，他此行的目的之一是推動落實兩國25年全面合作協議。據悉，萊希訪華期間，中伊雙方簽署了經濟、文化遺產、旅遊、知識產權、通信與信息技術、醫療衛生、生態環境保護、農業、國際貿易、衛生、救災、媒體、體育、危機管控等領域的20項雙邊合作協議文件。

其次，伊朗“向東看”戰略的內涵並不包括所謂中伊聯手抗美。近年來，中伊合作中的“戰略性”常被一些西方媒體解讀為兩國將“抱團抗美”。事實上，中伊雙方間的“戰略”合作是一種比較寬泛的理念共識表達。中伊是在2016年中國國家主席習近平訪問伊朗期間宣布建立全面戰略夥伴關係的，而與中國建立類似夥伴關係的國家還有很多。伊朗總統萊希訪華前在中國官方媒體《人民日報》上發表的署名文章中曆數“伊朗政治獨立，擁有維護安全、培養人才的能力，生產成本低，能源儲量豐富，具有貨物過境的地理優勢，工業基礎設施完善”，表示“這些都可以成為加強伊中全面戰略夥伴關係的重要因素”。而伊朗幾十年來“反美抗美”，卻未被歸結為中伊“全面戰略夥伴關係”的“重要因素”。

當然，正如萊希《人民日報》署名文章的標題——《老朋友是未來合作的最好夥伴》——所言，伊朗“向東看”戰略是指引伊朗“未來合作”的方向，這也從伊朗近年為加入金磚機制和上合組織的努力中得到印證。對中國而言，伊朗是“一帶一路”沿線的重要節點國家，也是“一帶一路”倡議在中東地區的重要支點。萊希在《人民日報》署名文章中還表示，伊朗認為，共建“一帶一路”倡議不僅構建了一條國際通道，還將對沿線國家的文明和工業發展產生深遠影響。中伊都是世界文明古國，對文明多樣性、共建“一帶一路”、踐行多邊主義以及反霸反強權的共識與堅守，將有助於加強發展中國家的團結，並為彼此拓展外交迴旋空間和在國際舞台上進行必要的外交呼應奠定基礎。

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visited China from Feb. 14 to 16. Iran has been on the anti-American front line in the Middle East for decades and has long been regarded by the U.S. as a regional troublemaker. The relationship between China and the U.S. has been declining in recent years, with the recent balloon incident triggering even stronger mutual distrust and even hostilities. Under these circumstances, President Raisi's visit was seen by some as a rendezvous of the world's two important anti-American forces and the rhythm of China and Iran moving further to join forces against the United States.

However, this is not the case. At the same time as the Iranian president's visit to China, Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and head of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, left China to visit France, Italy, Hungary and other European countries and attend the Munich Security Conference to strengthen mutual exchanges. After that, he will move on to Moscow to cool down the Russia-Ukraine conflict and work for a solution through negotiation. Therefore, while China and Iran have a lot in common in terms of fighting against hegemony and power, they are focused at this stage more on tapping the potential of economic complementarity and enhancing mutual economic cooperation.

First, given the current internal and external pressures, Iran wants to enhance its cooperation with China in both economic and strategic areas. Mohammad Jamshidi, the deputy presidential chief of staff for political affairs, made it clear before President Raisi's visit to China that the visit was aimed at both economic and strategic areas. Undoubtedly, the economic aim should be to advance the implementation of the 25-year China-Iran comprehensive cooperation agreement — signed in March 2021 — in which China pledged to invest $400 billion in more than 10 areas, including infrastructure, medicine, health, science and technology.Iran is still facing a number of sanctions by the United States and the rest of the West, including a severe financial sanction and oil embargo, and has faced a deepening economic crisis, inflation and currency devaluation in recent years because of the delay in the U.S. return to negotiations on an Iran nuclear deal. As Iran's largest export destination and second-largest source of imports in 2022, China is naturally the first choice for Iran in strengthening economic cooperation.Earlier, Iran announced the foreign investments it had received over the previous two years. Chinese investment amounted to $185 million. This is obviously still quite far from Iran's expectations.

Raisi's high-level political and economic delegation to China included Iran's foreign minister, oil minister, minister of economic affairs and finance, minister of roads and urban development, agriculture minister, and central bank governor. In a speech before his visit, Raisi said that one of his objectives was to promote the implementation of the 25-year comprehensive cooperation agreement between the two countries. Reports said the two sides signed 20 bilateral cooperation agreements in the fields of economy, cultural heritage, tourism, intellectual property, communication, information technology, healthcare, eco-environmental protection, agriculture, international trade, health, disaster relief, media, sports and crisis management.

Second, Iran's “Look east” strategy does not include a so-called China-Iran partnership against the U.S. In recent years, the strategic nature of Sino-Iranian cooperation has often been interpreted by some Western media as a sign that China and Iran will join forces to fight the United States. In fact, the strategic cooperation between China and Iran is a broader expression of conceptual consensus.China and Iran announced a comprehensive strategic partnership during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Iran in 2016. There are many other countries that have established similar partnerships with China. In an op-ed headlined “Old Friends Are the Best Partners for Future Cooperation,” which was published in People's Daily on the eve of Raisi's visit to China.He said: “Iran is politically independent and able to maintain security and nurture human resources. It has low production costs and boasts abundant energy reserves. It also enjoys geographical advantages in the transit of goods and well-developed industrial infrastructure. All this could be an important factor in strengthening the Iran-China comprehensive strategic partnership.” This shows that it is not Iran's decades of resistance to the U.S. that are important in the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Iran.

Of course, as this op-ed suggests, Iran's strategy of looking east is the direction of Iran's future cooperation. This is also evident from Iran's membership in the BRICS mechanism and its efforts to become a member of the SCO in recent years. For China, Iran is an important Belt and Road country and the pivot point for the Belt and Road Initiative in the Middle East.In his op-ed, Raisi also said that Iran believes BRI cooperation will not only build an international corridor but will also have a profound impact on the civilizational and industrial development of BRI countries.China and Iran are both ancient civilizations. Their consensus and commitment to the diversity of civilizations, BRI cooperation, multilateralism and the fight against hegemony and power politics can strengthen the solidarity of developing countries and lay the foundation for the expansion of each other's diplomatic space and the necessary diplomatic cooperation in the international arena.