The Chinese Defense Ministry on Saturday denounced the United States as a “war addict” for launching strikes on Iran, while more temperate Chinese government organs called for an immediate cease-fire.
“The U.S. is a war addict. Throughout its over 240-year history, it has been at war for all but 16 years,” said a Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman at a press conference in Beijing in remarks spread by social media accounts linked to the Chinese government.
“The U.S. has 800 overseas military bases in over 80 countries and regions. The U.S. is the main cause of international disorder, global turbulence, and regional instability,” the spokesman said.
The state-controlled China Daily wrote an editorial on Saturday saying that American and Israeli action against Iran “ignores international law” and “follows a pattern of increasing belligerence.”
“The unilateral military adventurism of the US and Israel do not enhance security; they breed chaos, inviting a cycle of retaliation that could engulf the entire region,” China Daily lectured.
The Chinese Communist paper floated conspiracy theories that America and Israel struck Iran due to “domestic political calculations,” because “external confrontation can be used to consolidate internal support,” and both President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could use a boost in the polls.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry took a somewhat less hostile tone, calling for an “immediate halt to military operations.”
The Foreign Ministry declared China’s support for “Iran’s national sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity,” and said the U.S. should “resume dialogue and negotiation” to “maintain peace and stability in the Middle East.”
These Chinese mouthpieces did not seem terribly concerned with Iran widening the conflict by launching simultaneous missile strikes against every Sunni Arab nation in the Gulf. Beijing did not immediately express displeasure with Iran’s retaliatory expansion.
China is not formally allied with Iran, although it has been working to develop closer diplomatic and economic ties with the Islamist regime, particularly in the matter of oil shipments. About a third of China’s current oil supply passes through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran perpetually threatens to blockade in the event of hostilities with Western nations.
“Although Beijing signed a 25-year strategic cooperation agreement in 2021, which included a reported $400 billion in Chinese investment pledges, implementation of that deal has been weak. China’s economic interests in the wider Gulf region now far outweigh its economic ties to Iran,” Bloomberg News noted on Saturday.
Dozens of oil tankers reportedly changed course to divert away from the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday morning, some of them seeking safe harbor in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) or exiting the conflict region entirely.
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