China unmoved on Iran sanctions

Political scientists use a number of tools to ascertain key issues as well as make predictions about developments on the world stage. In the light of China’s reluctance to pursue sanctions against Iran for its nuclear development program, we learn a great deal about the World Order.

Scientists have so far found it difficult to make absolutes about the power poles that would dominate the international political landscape following the end of the era of Bipolarity or the Cold war; the Unipolar dominance of the USA under the Bush administration proved unsustainable and a Multipolar world of different power poles is elevating the art of diplomacy as the primary tool for progress.

Multipolarity brings with it a system of ‘checks and balances on state behaviour; UN monitoring in this case against Iran, but this is confronted by the intransigence of China and possibly Russia to comply. The question is: should they?

Although China’s position is that they do not want to violate the sovereignty of their neighbour, pundits have used China’s trade relationship with Iran as a self-interested motive not to act. On the other hand, we have Iran as the Pariah, seeking like the North Koreans, the materials that could be used for the development of WMDs and which could tip the power pole in their favour. Seeking to advance one’s own security is the path often followed.

What makes the situation unsolvable is the underlying fact that enemy states like Britain and the US have these weapons in the first place. Recently Gordon Brown pointed out a possible new direction: a reduction of Britain’s stockpile, a step in the direction of non-proliferation. What new predictions and what possibilities could emerge from this alternative path?