China and Iran: Ancient Partners in a Post-Imperial World [Paperback]

John W. Garver (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The powerful army of the Islamic Republic of Iran is in the service of peace and security and is no threat to anyone. But in the face of enemies, it is like a meteorite. It will cut off the hand of any aggressor and leave the enemy covered in shame." -Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President, Islamic Republic of Iran, April 18, 2006 "Garver has again proven himself to be the nation's leading scholar of China's foreign relations. This pathbreaking scholarship provides a much-needed corrective to media caricatures and fills a void of reliable information." -David Shambaugh, George Washington University "Garver's painstaking research shows how China and Iran try consistently to resist perceived American hegemony and invoke their ancient relations to legitimize the convergence of their national interests. Garver empathetically probes these relations from the perspectives of their leaders, rather than his own American lenses." -R. K. Ramazani, University of Virginia "Garver's incisive and lucid work draws attention to the range and depth of China-Iran cultural interactions and how these shape their perceptions and projection of power... These rigorous, refreshing, innovative insights on the intricacies of regional politics are likely to recast our thinking on power relationships in Asia and the Middle East." -Saaed Shafqat, Columbia University "A tour de force of the highest importance to U.S. policymakers and scholars alike." -Ambassador Thomas Graham Jr. "The first of its kind, Garver's timely book combines exciting insights on politics, ideology, Islam, and energy, as well as military and nuclear policy. This will be the standard work for some time to come." -Yitzhak Shichor, University of Haifa "An excellent study of complex and understudied issues. It is absolutely seminal in the sense that there is no book at all on this topic, and precious few articles. China and Iran is a major contribution to the field." Kamran Aghaie, University of Texas at Austin "This interesting and timely book from Garver, (the first of its kind), charts the evolution of Sino-Iranian relations through several phases."--IIAS, Summer 2007 "This interesting and timely book from Garver, (the first of its kind), charts the evolution of Sino-Iranian relations through several phases, including Iran under the shah, the 1979 revolution, and the Iran-Iraq war. China and Iran also explores the contentious debates over Iran's nuclear programmes and China's role in assisting these programmes and supporting Iran's efforts to modernise its military and oil industry infrastructure."--IIAS Newsletter #45 Autumn 2007

From the Publisher

"An excellent study of complex and understudied issues. It is absolutely seminal in the sense that there is no book at all on this topic, and precious few articles. China and Iran is a major contribution to the field." – Kamran Aghaie, University of Texas at Austin --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 392 pages
• Publisher: University of Washington Press (February 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 029598631X
• ISBN-13: 978-0295986319
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #768,139 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Foundation Stone for Serious Global Understanding, May 30, 2009

By 

Robert D. Steele (Oakton, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: China and Iran: Ancient Partners in a Post-Imperial World (Paperback)

This is a sensational book, dry as only a serious academic can be, but so absolutely original and fundamental as to make me smile and cheer. This is what a book should be--original, properly sourced, wonderful appendix that is a chronology of Chinese and Iranian substantive state-level contacts, and so on.

Although the author cannot cover it all, the length of the book and the totality of this work move the book from four stars to five. This is a VERY important book for anyone who wants to move beyond the failed analytic frameworks and corrupt policy frameworks of the past and into reality in the 21st Century.

The bottom line up front: when it gets down to "either or" China will favor its desire for US comity over its respect for Iranian anti-hegemonism, but over time, China has executed a very skillful balancing act that has helped Iran restore its role as the central power in the Persian-Middle East region.

For me the huge eye-opener--I actually have goosebumps and am posting a variation of the map on page 292 of this book to share my appreciation--was the role that Pakistan and Iran play in giving China access to the sea and Middle Eastern energy as well as African natural resources.

Although India is not discussed in this book, I learn that the author has written Protracted Contest: Sino-Indian Rivalry in the Twentieth Century and that will be in my stack for my next long trip. This book is vitally important and as I reflect on all the books that I have absorbed over the years, this one stands out as "the way it should be done." This is a perfect book at the strategic level. It could be complemented by others writing companion books, for example, I would love to see a book studying both Chinese and Iranian inroads into Africa and Latin America, illuminating both the processes and the cross-overs. The kind of thing CIA should be doing but does not, for at least four reasons: children as analysts; security obstacles to outreach; lack of a holistic analytic model; and lack of access to open sources that are not online, in English, and easily processed.

There are chapters on Iran and China in relation to Xinjiang Muslims; Chinese support to the Iranian nuclear program both directly and via Pakistan (siginficantly, China stood down on support related to weaponizing nuclear and also stopped Iranian use of Silkworm missiles from China against shipping). The three page chronology on this aspect is fine detail. The chapter on Chinese-Iranian military exchanges draws heavily on the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and I am reminded of that organization's priceless contributions. The last three chapters cover US-Taiwan in relation to China-Iran; economy, and energy.

The 1000 word limit is a good one for reviewers, so I will be concise in the sharing of my other flyleaf notes:

1. PRIMAL FACTORS. The Chinese-Iranian relationship can be traced back and has been active since centuries before Christ. At the same time, China and Iran represent the apex of regional powers who have not been co-opted or corrupted by Western colonial hegemony backed by unilateral militarism. I can only anticipate they will be the "last man standing" on their home ground.

2. Iranian Constancy. Both Shah and Post-Shah have played US and Russians consistently, and both have been concerned about US and Russian incursions into the Indian Ocean.

3. Pakistan. Both China and Iran have convergent interests in Pakistan, and Pakistan is a key player on many fronts--a book by this author on Pakistan in relation to China, Iran India, Central Asia would be phenomenal.

4. China Core Concept. The strategic core concept that China pursues is "Unified Front." The author elaborates. I note the contrast with US core concept of "American exceptionalism" and unilateralism (Obama is Empire as usual, I have sponsored a new meme, "Free Obama." Between the two corrupt parties working for Wall Street, and the persistent special interests and Versailles bureaucracy, nothing has changed). At the operational level, the author discusses Chinese "Realistic Prudence."

5. China-Iran Geopolitical. The map with embedded text on page 46 is so very good I am uploading that at well. This book is well illustrated, well-documented--a pure pleasure.

6. Civilizational Rhetoric. The author opens with this, and I love it. The author makes it clear that this matters [for decades I have called for historical intelligence, i.e. show me every Chinese, Vietnamese, Philippine, and Malaysian statement on the Spratley Islands going back 200 years, but to no avail--CIA does not do history or culture in any meaningful sense of the word, partly because they cannot read in the original languages and do not access ofline original books.]

7. Concerns About Iran. The author enumerates Chinese concerns about Iran, one wonders if any US policy bubbas have pursued this aspect of US-Chinese relations. See page 28.

8. End of the Shah. The author documents how China missed the rise of the Khomeini regime as did the USA. The clerics did not know China had 20 million Muslims, and this ultimately helped the dialog.

9. Stage Two. The author provides a lovely review of how China ramped up its relations with Iran in the aftermath of negative global opinion over its repression of demonstrations, the collapse of the USSR, and the unilateral aggressiveness of the USA in the Middle East.

10. Iranian Roadmap. The author outlines how Iran's strategic plan began with Lebanon, then moved over to Afghanistan, and next plans to focus on Central Asia and Xinjiang in China, the latter in the face of Chinese resistance. Pakistan needs its own book.

11. Gulf I and Gulf II. The public record available to the author suggests that both Iran and China opposed both US invasions (Gulf I and Gulf II) because they put a US armed presence or footprint in the area. My personal view is that Iran played the US for a sucker with Chalabi as an agent of influence, and got the US to knock of Hussein and displace the Taliban.

I have to stop here. This is a wonderful book, a deep serious contribution, a real original, absolutely essential for both undergraduate and graduate students as well as policy and business adults.

Other strategic books I admire that are top down in nature (this is a bottom up strategic book. You have to search for my summary reviews, Amazon buries serious reviews with any negative votes:
The Lessons of History
The Fifty-Year Wound: How America's Cold War Victory Has Shaped Our World
The Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence and the Will of the People
A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility--Report of the Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change
High Noon 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them
Anthropological Intelligence: The Deployment and Neglect of American Anthropology in the Second World War
Global Values 101: A Short Course
Modern Strategy

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars China and Iran: Ancient Partners in a Post-Imperial World, January 17, 2008

By 

Michael Rubin "Middle East Quarterly" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: China and Iran: Ancient Partners in a Post-Imperial World (Paperback)

Between 2005 and 2007, Iranian trade with China doubled to US$20 billion. On September 30, 2007, the Chinese ambassador to Tehran said, "China will never do anything against Iran's interests." (1) With the increase of relations between Beijing and Tehran, so, too, have U.S. policy concerns grown. Despite that, the literature on Sino-Iranian relations has been sparse until now.

To fill the gap, Garver, a China scholar at the Georgia Institute of Technology, puts together an impressive exploration of Sino-Iranian relations in China and Iran. Unfortunately, he breezes through twenty centuries of pre-modern Sino-Iranian relations in just eight pages, depriving the reader of context for the recent flourishing. Garver may be too cynical when he suggests that Chinese and Iranian emphasis on their earlier ties is convenient revisionism for there does exist a rich Persian literature--yet to be translated into any Western language--discussing earlier generations of ties with China. (2)

Garver's focus begins in 1971 when the Peoples' Republic of China established relations with Iran. He then traces the ebb and flow of contacts through China's liberalization and Iran's Islamic revolution. Throughout much of the 1990s, Tehran and Beijing found common ground in an "anti-[U.S.] hegemony partnership." Separate chapters examine the Iranian approach to China's Muslim Uighur population; Chinese assistance to Iran's nuclear program; and Sino-Iranian energy cooperation.

China and Iran is straightforward, well-indexed, and well-sourced, if a bit dry. Garver does not offer earthshaking analysis, but for any policy practitioner wishing to understand the context of the current Sino-Iranian embrace, China and Iran offers a handy, reliable resource.

Michael Rubin
Middle East Quarterly
Spring 2008

(1) Fars News Agency, Oct. 1, 2007.
(2) Ali Akbar Khata`i, Khataynameh [The Book of China], Iraj Afshar, ed. (Tehran: Center for Documents of Asian Culture, 1993).

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Insight into Anti-Hegemonist Unity, July 20, 2007

By 

H. Campbell (houston, texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: China and Iran: Ancient Partners in a Post-Imperial World (Paperback)

That China and Iran are determined to resist American imperialism is a given. The How Question is adeptly described in this unique work, that shows how China has deftly walked the high wire dividing its interests in maintaining trade relations with the US and assisting Iran in developing its economic and military potential. The mutual antipathy of Iran and the US provides the backdrop for China's diplomacy, which has been characterized in its post-Mao phase by an under-the-radar handling of foreign relations. This approach is in sharp contrast to the US approach, which is to bomb first and then ask no questions later. It is little wonder that China is making friends as fast as we are making enemies. Naturally, Iran's ideological perspective makes it a prime candidate for being America's latest Devil Number One, and vice versa, a status that allows China to play both ends against the middle.
The author describes in not-too-cumbersome detail the economic, cultural, military and political relationship between these two self-proclaimed civilization progenitors (the depth of the conviction that both are ancient forerunners of everything good and noble today is a theme whose sincerity should not be questioned, though its practical significance remains an open question.)
I found the author's discussion of how China may be using Iran as a future bargaining chip over Taiwan interesting, though not wholly convincing that the Chinese are as capable as the US is in such cold-calculating cynical backstabbing. That China would come to Iran's assistance in case of yet another Bush-League War is doubtful, given China's pragmatic approach to international relations and its continued need for American development of its economic base. But, having said that, there is no doubt that China would do everything short of direct war with American to assist Iran, if for no other reason than to seriously weaken an already overstretched Uncle Sam. Such a scenario would make Taiwan look like the proverbial ripe fruit begging to be picked by the PRC.
This book is a valuable addition to any library stocked with Asian history titles or international political tomes.