Hong Kong
CNN
–
China and Russia position themselves as voices of reason and are considering the US entering the country in search of disputes. These are Optical XI xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin who tried to make predictions during the call on Thursday.
As US President Donald Trump joined Israel in attacking Iran, the rapidly challenging conflict between two sworn-up enemies in the Middle East presented another opportunity to cast himself in Beijing and Moscow as an alternative to American power.
In their appeal, Putin and Xi Jinping strongly condemn Israel’s actions, calling them a violation of the UN Charter and other norms of international law, according to the Kremlin. (Of course, the elephant in the room is a violation of Russia’s own international law in the ongoing war against Ukraine, which Beijing has consistently refused to condemn it.)
In Beijing’s reading, Xi hit a more measured tone and stopped explicitly denounce Israel, unlike the foreign minister who did it in a call with his Iranian counterpart last week.
Instead, Chinese leaders urged “Israel in particular” to political parties fighting to stop the fire as soon as possible, in order to avoid further escalation and regional ripples.
And in particular, in a veiled message to Trump, Xi stressed that “major powers” that have a special impact on the parties to the conflict should work to “cool the situation, not opposed.”
Beijing has long accused Washington of being a source of instability and tension in the Middle East. And some Chinese scholars have accused them of stealing Iran’s crisis to emphasize that point.
Li Zhongmin, a Middle Eastern expert at Shanghai International Studies University, said the latest flare-up stems from the uncertainty created by the chaotic, opportunistic and transactional nature of Trump’s second presidency and his Middle Eastern policy.
“(Trump) seriously undermined the power and credibility of US policy in the Middle East, undermining its ability to threaten and block regional enemies while eroding American leadership and image among its allies,” Liu wrote in state media this week.
Some Chinese online commentators have noted that Trump appears on the brink of pulling the US deeper into other so-called eternal wars in the Middle East.
At the beginning of his second term, officials close to Trump repeatedly stressed the need for Washington to redirect the focus and resources to counter China’s ambitions in the Indo-Pacific. But five months later, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza continue to be furious. And Trump is now squeezing our involvement in the Israeli-Iran conflict.
Beijing is not interested in seeing an all-out war with Iran, which could overthrow the regime. Under the Supreme Leader of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran emerged as a horrifying force in the Middle East and as a key counterweight to US rule.
In 2023, Beijing helped mediate a surprising settlement between Saudi Arabia and Iranian archrivals.
China has long supported Iran through sustained oil imports and UN Security Council seats. In recent years, the two countries have deepened their strategic ties, holding joint navy exercises with Russia. Beijing welcomed Tehran to Shanghai cooperative organizations and BRICS. It was led to challenge the US-led world order led by China and Russia.
Iran is also a key node of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a driving force behind global infrastructure and investment. The country is located near the strategic port of Gwadar, Pakistan’s main BRI pre-post base that provides access to the Indian Ocean, and borders the Strait of Hormuz, a key chokepoint for China’s oil imports from the Persian Gulf.
Like Russia, China has offered to become a potential mediator in the Israeli-Iran conflict, casting an alternative to its role as a peace broker and US leadership.
During his call with Putin, Xi laid out four broad proposals to dismantle tensions, including solving Iran’s nuclear issue and protecting civilians, according to Chinese reading.
Meanwhile, Xi’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi spent a busy week on the phone, speaking with counterparts in Iran, Israel, Egypt and Oman with gusts of diplomatic outreach.
However, it remains unclear what Beijing willingly can do when it comes to actually mediating a conflict. In the early stages of Israel’s war with Gaza, China made similar offers and sent special envoys to the region to promote peace negotiations. This is an effort that was ultimately hard to get in terms of concrete results.
Broker peace in the Middle East is highly orderly, especially in deeply divided regions that lack the existence of meaningful political or security, especially for countries with little experience or expertise in mediating long-term, cumbersome conflicts.
And the war in Ukraine, one conflict where China holds important leverage, XI provided diplomatic cover and much needed economic support to maintain Putin’s war effort, even if China continued to acquire its position as a neutral peace broker.
Yet, when America’s global leadership is under scrutiny, especially in the eyes of the global South, Iran’s position as a voice of restraint in the conflict could already count as a symbolic victory for Beijing.