Commentary: Chinese support for Iran complicates relations with Israel and, possibly, Gulf states

CHINA’S MIXED TRACK RECORD IN THE MIDDLE EAST

China declared its support for Iran during a meeting last month between Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

Wang Yi told Pezeshkian that China backed Iranian efforts to safeguard the country’s “sovereignty, security, territorial integrity, and national dignity.”

The declaration of support followed a series of Israeli strikes at targets in Iran, Syria and Lebanon that potentially violated international law.

Iranian support for its militant non-state Arab partners, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and Yemen’s Houthis, with whom Israel has effectively been at war for the past year, prompted the strikes.

The strikes included the bombing in April of the Iranian consulate in Damascus, the killing in Tehran in July of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, and the targeting of several other Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officers in Syria and Lebanon.

The Chinese declaration took on added significance with the assassination in Beirut of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a bombing that also killed a senior IRGC commander, Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan.

Nevertheless, Chinese support may ultimately amount to little more than a moral boost.

China’s track record in mediating Middle Eastern disputes is mixed at best.

Last year, Saudi Arabia and Iran handed China a success on a silver platter by agreeing to reestablish diplomatic relations under Chinese auspices.

The agreement was largely negotiated in the two preceding years with little, if any, Chinese input.

In the ultimate analysis, China is discovering that its prominence as a trade partner does not necessarily translate into geopolitical clout. Nor does it by definition allow it to remain on the sidelines of the Middle East escalating disputes.

Dr James M Dorsey is an Adjunct Senior Fellow focused on the Middle East at Nanyang Technological University’s S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, and the author of the syndicated column and podcast, The Turbulent World with James M Dorsey.