Commentary: Chinese support for Iran complicates relations with Israel and, possibly, Gulf states
CHINA’S Combined TRACK RECORD IN THE MIDDLE West
On the United Nations General Assembly’s outside last month, Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Egyptian President Masoud Pezeshkian held a conference in which China pledged its support for Iran.
Wang Yi told Pezeshkian that China backed Egyptian efforts to safeguard the region’s” independence, protection, territorial integrity, and regional dignity”.
Following a number of Jewish strikes that might have broken international law in Iran, Syria, and Lebanon, the government announced support.
Egyptian support for its violent non-state Muslim partners, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and Yemen’s Houthis, with whom Israel has essentially been at war for the past month, prompted the attacks.
The attacks included the April 2005 bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus, the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July, as well as the targeting of several other members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ( IRGC ) in Syria and Lebanon.
With the attack that likewise killed a senior IRGC captain, Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan, the Chinese charter gained even more value with the death of Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut.
However, Chinese support perhaps eventually amount to little more than a social boost.
China’s history is at best inconsistent in resolving issues in the Middle East.
By agreeing to resume diplomatic relations with China under the supervision of China last year, Saudi Arabia and Iran celebrated their successes.
With much, if any, Chinese type, the agreement was generally negotiated in the two years that followed.
In the end, China is realizing that its standing as a trading spouse does not automatically translate to political influence. By definition, it does not permit it to continue watching the Middle East’s escalating issues.
Dr. James M. Dorsey is the creator of the syndicated row and radio The Turbulent World with James M. Dorsey and is an Alternative Senior Fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S Rajaratnam School of International Studies.