Beijing's cooperation with Washington to reduce tensions in the Middle East is a good first step for a more diplomatic role for China.
What is the role of Beijing in the conflict between Iran and Israel
Xi Jinping has a favourite phrase: "The world today is going through major changes not seen in a whole century." The Chinese leader repeats this at international summits, party conferences, and even during conversations with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. This is a revealing understanding of his global vision, and the Iran-Israel conflict fits perfectly into it.
Beijing has an opportunity to play a diplomatic leader in solving problems in this increasingly volatile situation. This would allow the world's second-largest economy to build friendly relations with the US, which it has a contentious relationship with, and strengthen its reputation as a leader in the Global South, one of Xi Jinping's key ambitions.
According to Bloomberg, the president's decision not to act preemptively is a telling sign of his ambivalence about crisis intervention.
China's ties with Iran go back centuries, especially in terms of trade. Both countries have much in common - they used to be ruled by imperial dynasties and then faced revolutions that transformed their states. However, they are most connected by a common antagonism to the dominance of the West in the era after the Second World War. They believe the US is trying to facilitate regime change and are wary of Western cultural influence on its citizens.
What does China propose to resolve the conflict?
China offered to facilitate dialogue between Israel and Palestine, continuing the same two-state proposal it has been pushing for years, and helped defuse relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran. However, his proposals are often dismissed as unrealistic and too simplistic for the complex geopolitical issues he is trying to address.
The US, however, sees China's role as significant, particularly the influence it can have on Tehran. The fact that the US is trying to limit China's economic ties with Iran shows how important Washington considers the relationship and how much it wants Beijing to take the lead in this crisis. He asked China to urge Tehran not to retaliate against Israel for the airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Syria. But all China's top diplomat did was tell his Iranian counterpart that he was ready to continue working with him in the future.
China is ready to unswervingly promote practical cooperation with Iran in various fields and promote the further development of China-Iran relations, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian in a telephone conversation on Monday, April 15, following the missile attack on Israel over the weekend.
Beijing achieved relative success after that phone call: Iran's foreign minister said his country was aware of regional tensions, was ready to exercise restraint and had no intention of further escalation. But China did not condemn Tehran's actions in response, saying that it views them as "side effects of the conflict in Gaza." Beijing had ample opportunity to change the status quo. It's time to start doing it.
