China to Safeguard Iran Rights Before Xi-Trump Summit — SkimNews
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- Wang Yi told Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi at a Wednesday meeting in Beijing that China is "willing to strengthen dialogue and cooperation with Iran, and safeguard Iran's legitimate rights and interests"
- The meeting comes a week before Xi Jinping's planned trip to the United States to meet Donald Trump, with the war on Iran and the Strait of Hormuz situation expected on the agenda
- Wang urged all parties to "take effective measures to reopen the Strait of Hormuz at an early date" and warned against regional tensions spilling into Yemen and the Red Sea
- Wang declared the "existing security architecture in the Middle East is inadequate and needs to be reformed and strengthened," offering China as a promoter of "peace, fairness and justice" in the region
- Beijing this week refuted US media reports that Chinese entities supplied Tehran with satellite images of a US military base housing troops in Jordan, and Trump said in April he wrote to Xi asking him not to sell weapons to Iran
- China is Iran's top economic partner and the largest buyer of Iranian crude oil, giving Beijing direct economic leverage over Tehran
Why it matters: China is publicly backing Iran diplomatically a week before Xi meets Trump, while remaining Iran's largest crude oil buyer — a combination that lets Beijing position itself as a regional mediator while the Strait of Hormuz reopening and the war on Iran are placed directly on the Xi-Trump agenda.
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