Concern over emerging axis between Beijing, Moscow, Teheran

CHINESE Foreign Minister Wang Yi completes on Tuesday a key six-country Middle East tour, yet the eyes of much of the world are as much on the deepening alliance between Beijing and Moscow which warmed further last week with major economic and political implications.

Last Monday and Tuesday, the ever-energetic Chinese foreign chief met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. Ties between Moscow and Beijing have become significantly deeper under the leadership of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping with a burgeoning bilateral economic and political dialogue.

This axis has recently appeared to be on the brink of a trilateral dialogue with Teheran too, and Beijing signed on Saturday a 25-year Sino-Iranian Comprehensive Strategic Partnership which will bring Iran into Beijing's mammoth Belt and Road infrastructure initiative. As Teheran has been squeezed by Western sanctions, it has launched a charm offensive towards Moscow and Beijing and one of the manifestations of this was the three nations conducting in December 2019, for the first time, naval drills in the north Indian Ocean and Sea of Oman. Yet, it is the alliance between Russia and China that is the one the West is most worried about. Beijing and Moscow are working together much more closely not just to further bilateral interests, but also to hedge against the prospects of a continuing chill in US and wider Western ties.