Trump card falls flat amid tension over Xi talks
Iran war turmoil and the US president’s call for a ‘convoy of the willing’ sparks China-US challenges
Donald Trump has always been predictably unpredictable. The US president threatened over the weekend to delay his summit with China’s leader Xi Jinping later this month. It came as the Iran war spilled over into the Strait of Hormuz.
Mired in conflict with oil prices soaring, Trump called on Beijing to help secure the Gulf’s critical maritime chokepoint. At least 45% of oil imports and 30% of China’s liquefied natural gas traverse the strait, which borders Iran and US allies Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
Even as the region resembles a war zone, Tehran has continued sending crude to the world’s second-largest economy, a crucial strategic partner for Beijing. The rest of the world has seen commercial shipping attacked or left stranded by Iran’s grotesque Islamic regime.
“[This] is his war, not our war,” Wu Xinbo, the director of Fudan University’s Center for American Studies in Shanghai and a former adviser to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said, as reported by the Bloomberg news agency today.
Why should we send ships – for what purpose?
Wu Xinbo, Fudan University’s Center for American Studies in Shanghai
Energy lifeline:
- Up to 18 tankers and cargo vessels have been hit by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz since hostilities broke out with Israel and the US, following missile strikes.
- At least 30% of the world’s oil and 20% of its liquefied natural gas are shipped through the seaborne artery. Key destinations include China, India, Japan, and South Korea.
Shot across the bow: “Why should we send ships – for what purpose?” academic Wu asked. “To join the US and its allies to fight Iran? I don’t think it is a wise thing for China to do under the circumstances.”
Delve deeper: Trump’s call for an international-style armada to protect global shipping was reported in a Financial Times interview. “It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there,” he said.
Big picture: Yet his comments have raised eyebrows in Beijing. Hu Xijin, the former editor-in-chief of the state-run Global Times, accused Trump on X of “trying to drag more countries into the conflict and bind as many nations as possible to the US-Israel alliance.”
China Factor comment: Still, the disaster unfolding in the Middle East also threatens NATO. Trump stressed that allies face a “very bad” future if they fail to sign up for ‘convoys of the willing’. Hints of desperation appear to be in the Washington air.