According to Khabaronline news agency, in the strategic meeting of the Central Council of the United Islamic Party and the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, Mahmoud Liai, vice president of studies and planning of this party, pointed to the most decisive issue in the Tehran-Beijing relations roadmap, and called for passing the “product purchase” stage and stepping into the “technology co-creation” stage, especially in the fields of artificial intelligence and information security.
According to ISNA report, in this meeting, which was held in the presence of the Chinese Ambassador Zong Pei Wu and Mohammad Ali Amani, the Secretary General of the party, he warned against the phenomenon of “digital colonization” and “data domination”, and stated: If the economic and political cooperation between Iran and China is not based on technological and safe platforms independent from the West, these relations will be vulnerable in the long run.
Pointing out that data has become the new oil, the Deputy of Studies and Planning of the Coalition Party stated: Part of the information infrastructure of the country and the West Asian region has been dependent on Western companies for years, and this dependence brings two serious risks: “information leakage and creation of back doors for espionage” and “weaponization of technology”.
He emphasized the necessity of realizing “data sovereignty” and independence in information technology infrastructure for the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Liai further introduced China as a “strategic and reliable alternative” to Western methods and technologies and added: “Digital Silk Road” initiative has provided us with a unique opportunity. China’s entry into Iran’s infrastructure and data centers is a real “win-win”; Because Iran can become a hub of data centers in West Asia due to its cheap and stable energy sources (the basic need for data centers and artificial intelligence processing) and its privileged geographical location.
In the final part of his speech, he presented four specific proposals as a roadmap for technological cooperation between the two countries:
1. Establishing common and safe data centers in Iran: with the investment of large Chinese companies to turn Iran into a data hub in the region.
2. Joint development of artificial intelligence (AI): establishment of joint research and development centers for localization of large language models (LLM) in Persian, Arabic and Chinese languages in the fields of health, agriculture, urban management and cyber security.
3. Cooperation in cyber security: countering cyber attacks (which are mainly carried out by the Zionist regime and the West) through the exchange of information and the use of indigenous and non-Western security hardware and software.
4. Knowledge transfer and training of manpower: implementation of joint programs for training Iranian engineers and specialists in Chinese universities and technology companies.
In summing up his speech, Liaiei considered the technological link between Iran and China to be the guarantee of stable security in West Asia and the neutralization of Western sanctions, and expressed hope that the outcome of this meeting would be to speed up the conclusion of operational agreements in the field of information and communication technology (ICT) between Tehran and Beijing, in order to witness the breaking of the Western monopoly in this strategic field.
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