Can China be the voice of reason as US, Iran trade missile attacks?
- Neither Washington nor Tehran wants Beijing on the opposite side, analyst says
- China is attempting to use its leverage as Iran’s biggest trading partner to prevent the spread of conflict in the Middle East
Beijing is a frequent stop on the travel itinerary of Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who has made at least four visits in the past 12 months, reflecting China’s role as Tehran’s biggest trading partner as the Middle East state faces crippling trade sanctions.
Increasingly, China is attempting to use that leverage to try and prevent the spread of conflict in the region after the US used a drone missile to kill Iran’s top general and Tehran responded with missile attacks on US forces in Iraq, all within the first eight days of 2020.
“Further deterioration of the situation is not in the interests of any country,” China’s foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a press briefing on Wednesday, urging talks to safeguard peace and stability in the region. The broader concern goes beyond a conflict that would disrupt oil shipments from the Middle East, which produces more than 30 per cent of the world’s supply, to nuclear worries.
Iran’s response to Soleimani’s death in attacking military bases housing US troops in Iraq is its most direct assault on America since the 1979 seizing of the US embassy in Tehran. There were no immediate reports of casualties from the air strikes on the US bases, US and Iraqi officials said.
Iranian state television, however, said that at least 80 “American terrorists” were killed in the attacks and that US helicopters and military equipment had been “severely damaged”.
Iran’s leaders had been under domestic pressure to act against the US after Soleimani’s funeral on Tuesday, said Li Guofu, a senior research fellow at China Institute of International Studies, a think tank in Beijing affiliated to the foreign ministry.