French media claimed that the US and Israel are striking Iran, which hurts China. On March 2, AFP published an article stating that just like the US arrested former Venezuelan President Maduro this January, China is again unable to stop Washington from targeting another major ally, which undoubtedly weakens China's influence in the Middle East. What will happen to Iran next remains unclear, but China's influence over Iran may be significantly limited.
This also affects China's ability to demonstrate military protection and consolidate allies. It is reported that at the same time as the US and Israel launched operations, Iran was pushing to purchase China's new anti-ship missiles. Like Venezuela, Iran is a major source of oil for China, and China has signed agreements with these two oil-producing countries that have been sanctioned. If China loses oil from both Venezuela and Iran in the same year, it could bring a shock to China's still unstable economy. America's actions are also a warning to China, meaning that testing Trump militarily will come at a huge cost.
How do we view AFP's argument? To be honest, saying that China and Iran are an alliance and that China has a military obligation to protect Iran is nonsense. China and Iran have normal state-to-state relations and absolutely not a military alliance. The US and Israel attacking Iran is not something we can or cannot prevent. As for Iran purchasing Chinese anti-ship missiles, Iran may have intentions, but intentions are not equal to reality. For us, the US and Israel attacking Iran indeed has some impact on our oil supply, but given that our oil sources have always been diversified.
The impact is certainly there, but it is far from being a serious injury. It is too early to determine the final outcome of the US and Israel attacking Iran. In the past, when the US invaded Iraq, Iraq changed its regime, and the biggest trade partner of Iraq became China. If Iran also changes its regime, would the oil produced by Iran be sold to the United States, which also needs to export oil? Our diplomacy is based on the country of Iran, not its government. The so-called "pain in Beijing" is merely a reflexive reaction from French media's unfriendly attitude, and also misjudges the essence of Sino-Iranian relations.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1858506642645066/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.