Written by: INcontext International
Article source: www.incontextinternational.org

On Friday 14 January, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian met to discuss the implementation of the 25-Year Iran-China Strategic Cooperation Agreement which was signed in March last year.

The foreign ministers agreed to step up cooperation in energy, infrastructure, production capacity, science and technology, and medical and health care. Since then, China has increased oil imports from Iran. During Friday’s meeting, China also reaffirmed its opposition to the US-led sanctions on Iran and its support for the resuscitation of the 2015 nuclear deal between major powers and Iran.

China maintains that the US is primarily responsible for Iran’s ongoing difficulties due to its unilateral withdrawal from the deal.  The suspension of Iran’s voting rights at the United Nations (UN) was recently extended for another year due to their inability to meet international financial commitments since billions of dollars are frozen abroad due to the ongoing sanctions.

According to the UN charter, if a member country’s arrears are equal to or exceed the number of dues it should have paid over the preceding two years, its voting rights are suspended until payment is made. In other diplomatic developments, after a six-year rift, there are signs of a thaw in Iran-Saudi Arabian relations.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh reported that three diplomats received visas from Saudi Arabia and were engaged in efforts to reopen the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) representative office in Jeddah. Since April 2021, Iran and Saudi Arabia have been engaged in talks facilitated by Iraq (in Baghdad), where progress was said to have been made.

FROM A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE

IRAN
±84.9 MILLION
CHINA
±1.4 BILLION

According to Operation World, Iran has the fastest-growing evangelical Church in the world and in the last few years, China’s underground Church has expanded exponentially. This growth is taking place while Christians in both these nations experience high levels of persecution by the government.

These two nations – from two completely different cultures and dominant religious beliefs – joining hands could be of huge spiritual significance as it opens the door for the Iranian and Chinese Church to utilise the numerous opportunities such a diplomatic commitment presents. A key opportunity is greater access and freedom of movement between these two nations which could bolster and encourage further growth in both.

This could cement the major shift in missions from the traditional ‘Christian West’ (‘global North’) towards the developing world (‘global South’) where tremendous pressure and challenges have amplified the search for truth. Isaiah 42:3 says: “He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle.” When we hear of persecution in these nations, we feel compelled to find a solution to their suffering. But it is often amid suffering that the Lord is beautifying His Bride and advancing His Kingdom.

Now is a critical time for the churches in these two nations, and we, as the larger Body of Christ in the rest of the world, need to support them through fervent prayer and spiritual warfare. We need to seek the Spirit’s guidance in how to get involved in ways that will complement what He is doing in and through them. 

Please pray with us for the following:

  • For godly wisdom for both Iran and China as they navigate the implementation of the new agreement
  • For the Body of Christ in Iran and China to identify the doors of opportunity this agreement opens
  • For the global Body of Christ to fervently seek the Spirit’s guidance in how to effectively support our brothers and sisters in these two nations at this critical time

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Date published: 02/02/2022
Feature image: Mohammad Javad Zarif and Wang Yi signed the Iran–China 25-year Cooperation Program. Tasnim News Agency/commons.wikimedia.org

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