Farzaneh Safary; Hamid Ahmadi; Kayhan Barzegar
Volume 26, Issue 109 , May 2020, , Pages 103-138
Abstract
Central Asia is of great significance for Iran in terms of geopolitical and geostrategic links. In the meanwhile, China and Russia have also paid more attention to Central Asia in recent ...
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Central Asia is of great significance for Iran in terms of geopolitical and geostrategic links. In the meanwhile, China and Russia have also paid more attention to Central Asia in recent years and have put forward many initiatives to extend their influence and assert their superiority. This article studies the dimensions and features of Sino-Russian axis in Central Asia and the opportunities that the strategies of the two countries in this region would provide for the Islamic Republic of Iran. Based on the descriptive-analytical research method, the article looks for an appropriate answer to the question on how the Islamic Republic of Iran can get closer to the fulfillment of its interests in that region amid the regional purposes of Moscow and Beijing in Central Asia. The hypothesis is that “China and Russia’s mutual concerns about the security, economic and institutional interests have forced the two countries to adopt coordinated policies. This would bring about regional balance, as the Islamic Republic of Iran can adopt a defensive participation approach in such circumstance to get closer to the fulfillment of its economic and security interests in the region.” The theoretical pillars of the article are based upon the theories of defensive and offensive (structural) realists, and the findings are the result of data gathered from the libraries, documents, sources in the virtual space, and the statistics and figures.
