Special Issue 1 (2015) 008-022, ISSN: 1823-884x International Conference on Social Sciences & Humanities (ICOSH-UKM2012) Theme: Knowledge for Social Transformation & Development in the 21st Century THE SHAH’S CHINA POLICY: FROM HOSTILITY TO RAPPROCHEMENT (A NEOCLASSICAL REALIST VIEW) Ehsan Razani and Nor Azizan Idris ABSTRACT This paper aims to examine the development of Iran’s China policy under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi during the years between 1949 and 1979. The main theme of this study is based on the question that how, and due to what influences, Iran’s foreign policy towards China evolved under the same leader in the context of the Cold War. Along this line, via adopting a neoclassical realist approach, the present study attempts to explain the Shah’s China policy by taking into account the role of both systemic and domestic variables. As this paper will argue, the structure of the international system and superpower politics have been the primary determinants of Iran’s behavior towards China during the Shah’s reign. However, the Iranian monarch’s perception of the East-West power play, his understanding of China’s position in the international balance of power, and his realistic calculations of the costs and benefits of relations with the PRC have acted as intervening factors that influenced Iran’s China policy at that time. Keywords: Iran, Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Foreign Policy, China, United States, Soviet Union, Cold War, Neoclassical Realism INTRODUCTION This paper deals with the evolution of Iran’s China policy under the Shah in the years between 1949 and 1979. It tries to explain how, and under what conditions, the Shah formulated and conducted his country’s relations with the communist China during his three decades of reign. This essay also seeks to shed light on the most important forces shaping the Iranian foreign policy towards the PRC at that time. The main argument of this paper is that, both systemic and domestic factors affected the foreign policy directions of the Kingdome of Iran in general and its diplomatic performance towards China in particular. When examining the context of Iran’s China policy during the Shah’s era, the centrality of systemic determinants is clear. Therefore, theoretically, the present work is realist in essence. Yet in addition to considering primacy in structure, intervening variables like the perception of the Shah about the international politics, the East-West rivalry, and China’s status in the global balance of power played a crucial role in how Iran’s behavior towards the PRC operated. Hence, a key assumption on which this study rests is that the Shah, as an absolute monarch and a hands –on