Bill Figueroa Profile picture
Assistant Prof of History and IR @univgroningen | China in the Middle East | PhD @PennHistory “China and the Iranian Left, 1905-1979” #IranChina فارسی/中文/eng
Mar 12, 2023 9 tweets 3 min read
We are now starting to get some of the details of the #Iran-#Saudi normalisation deal, thanks to this excellent report from @WSJ. Some important take-aways:

(A brief analytical thread 🧵)

#china #IranAndSaudiArabia

wsj.com/articles/china… 1.The report confirms that much of this was the culmination of a regional peace process: years of negotiations and both sides agreeing it was in their best interests. China entered late, as the train was pulling out, but…
Feb 16, 2023 4 tweets 2 min read
As Raisi and Xi make nice in Beijing, a major #Iran-#China oil deal has fallen apart.

Roudad 24 reports that Sinopec has officially pulled out of the Yadavaran oil field.

"The Chinese have used the imposition of sanctions against Iran as an excuse..."

rouydad24.ir/fa/news/330863/ Officials tried to avoid mentioning the issue specifically, but stressed that future development would be done with Iranian companies and investment. "It is quite clear that the National Oil Company has reached a dead end in negotiations with the Chinese."
Feb 13, 2023 13 tweets 7 min read
Recently, #IranChina ties have faced faux pas, criticism, and stagnation. Tomorrow, President Raisi will visit #Beijing to try and jump-start #Sino-#Iranian cooperation. 🇨🇳🇮🇷

A brief #thread 🧵of what's happened recently in #Iran-#China relations:

aljazeera.com/news/2023/2/13… In March of 2020, #Iran and #China signed the fabled "Iran-China Deal", in which China reported pledged massive cooperation with and investment in Iran over the next two-and-a-half decades. The deal ostensibly called for $400 billion in investment...

nytimes.com/2021/03/27/wor…
Apr 28, 2022 7 tweets 7 min read
Exciting! My article for @AIS_1967 “Performative Diplomacy: Iran–Republic of China Relations, 1920–1949” has been published.

It’s OpenAccess!

Wonder what Chiang Kai-shek thought of Reza Shah?

Read on…

#iran #china #history #twitterstorians

cambridge.org/core/journals/… So what can you expect from this article? It fill a gap in the literature by sketching a narrative of RoC-#Iran relations between 1920 and 1949, by analyzing the factors behind #Sino-Iranian cooperation and competition in the #tea and #silk trades and at the League of Nations.
Apr 28, 2022 6 tweets 3 min read
#China and #Iran have agreed to expand their military ties. Of course, Fox News and the usual suspects are sounding the alarm. What does that mean, and is there anything noteworthy here?

The short version? No, not much. Here’s why…

#IranChina

english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-ea… First, this is nothing new. Chinese military have visited Iran before. They ALREADY cooperate by holding joint military exercises and collaborating on international crime, like drug trafficking and terrorism. China also does this with Saudi Arabia and other ME countries.
Jan 17, 2022 17 tweets 9 min read
The #Iran-#China deal has entered the "implementation" phase. This has triggered a new, yet not unexpected round of #Sino-#Iranian "alliance" panic.

But recent events hint at the limits of the Sino-Iranian partnership. Let's review... (a #ForeignPolicy #IranChina #thread) 1/ First, it's worth repeating that many aspects of the promised deal are overblown and exaggerated, including the fabled "$400 billion" investment. The deal was, and remains, aspirational and with no specific details. 2/



thediplomat.com/2021/04/china-…
May 19, 2021 19 tweets 9 min read
Yesterday I discussed China's close relationship with #Israel.

But it wasn't always that way.

From 1955 to the mid-1970s, #China was the only non-Muslim, non-Arab state to condemn #Zionism as #racism.

Why was that? A #thread 🧵on #Sino-#Palestine.

#history #twitterstorians 1/ Shortly after the Communist Revolution of 1949, China condemned Israel in the strongest possible terms. Israel was deemed an “imperial tool for suppressing national-democratic revolution movement of the Arab countries,” and a “Zionist entity,” equating Zionism to racism. 2/
May 18, 2021 16 tweets 6 min read
Yesterday, #Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi put forth a Four-Point Proposal for peace in the #Israel-#Palestine conflict.

Why this "plan" offers nothing new and on #China's use of rhetorical support for #Palestinians

(Or, why do I have such a sense of deja vu?)

a thread🧵1/ Wang’s comments resurrected the Four-Point Proposal made by Xi Jinping in 2017, which itself was a repackaging of the Four-Point Plan for Peace of 2013. While the language has varied, the content has remained the same. All 3 versions endorse the international consensus... 2/
Mar 27, 2021 26 tweets 11 min read
Everything You Need To Know About the 25-Year #IranChina Agreement - A #Thread

Why it's not a "big deal" and the myth of a $400 (or $500...) billion investment.

W/ articles by @JuliaGurol @yarbatman @jacoposcita @Lucille_Greer_ and @jonathandfulton

#Iran #China Image Yesterday, Iran and China signed an agreement expressing a desire to increase co-operation and trade relations over the next 25 years. This deal has been hailed as a massive overhaul of Sino-Iranian relations that will see China invest $4-600 billion into the Iranian economy. 1/
Nov 23, 2020 25 tweets 12 min read
Inspired by my answer on @askhistorians yesterday, I decided to share a thread about #Slavery in #China. What was slavery like in China? Who were #Chinese slaves? And how did it differ from slavery in the West?

A thread... 1/

#history #twitterstorians #HistoryMatters @AjamMC Image Slavery in the sense of "coercion of labor from people who are not free to choose their fate" has a long history in China. For the most part, slaves came from various sources and were not always tied to race or ethnicity - although they sometimes were. 2/ Image
Nov 12, 2020 9 tweets 11 min read
While #CCP Chairman #HuaGuofeng's visit to #Iran in 1978 was meant to project strength, his translator recalled a different mood... (a short thread) 1/

#Iran #China #IranChina #ChinaIran #twitterstorians #history #womeninhistory #AcademicTwitter #iranian #pahlavi #chinese Image "The meeting between the leaders of the two countries that I was most impressed with was a separate meeting between #HuaGuofeng and #Pahlavi. At that time there was no one but else but myself as a translator. Pahlavi's mood during the meeting was already quite depressed..." 2/ Image