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In Iran They Buy Chinese
(Bloomberg) Ladane Nasseri - When a major contract to supply Tehran with more than 600 subway cars came up for tender, it went to China's CRRC Corp., which beat two European bids to win a contract worth $900 million this year. Chinese companies are building or funding railway lines to the eastern city of Mashhad and the Gulf port of Bushehr, under deals signed in the past year worth $2.2 billion. Iran's trade with China has more than doubled since 2006, to $28 billion. The biggest chunk of Iran's oil exports go to China, $11 billion a year at current prices. "The Chinese have been in Iran for the past 30 years. They have the contacts, the guys on the ground, the links to the local banks," says Dina Esfandiary, a fellow at the Centre for Science and Security Studies at King's College in London. Persia was on the old Silk Road, and Iran is at the heart of Chinese President Xi Jinping's plans for a new one.