Renowned commentator Shi Qiping of Phoenix Television issued a commentary on the joint U.S.-Israel strike against Iran, making two core judgments: first, that Trump turned an excellent opportunity into a disastrous move, failing to achieve strategic objectives and instead causing unprecedented unity within Iran, with its strong counterattack shattering the myth of American military hegemony; second, that the United States is increasingly isolated and its hegemony is accelerating its decline, while China has become an indirect beneficiary of this Middle East turmoil. This judgment directly points out the strategic blunder of the U.S.-Israel action, and reveals the deep logic behind the transformation of the global landscape.
Shi Qiping analyzed from the perspective of Sino-U.S. global competition, pointing out that the Middle East has always been a key area for Sino-U.S. rivalry, and it holds great significance for China. The Middle East is the core supply area of China's oil and gas resources, an important breakthrough for promoting the petro-yuan and challenging the oil-dollar hegemony, and a critical node for the "Belt and Road" initiative to connect Europe, Asia, and Africa. Its strategic importance cannot be underestimated, and China has always been committed to consolidating its cooperative layout in the Middle East.
Naturally, the United States does not want to see China steadily building its presence in the Middle East. Therefore, it uses Israel as a strategic pivot, attempting to implement American-style peaceful evolution against Iran, cultivating pro-American regimes, and thus achieving a double victory to contain Russia and China. Shi Qiping believes that this was originally a clever strategy for the United States to maintain its hegemony in the Middle East and curb strategic rivals. However, Trump personally destroyed it. Influenced by Netanyahu, and emboldened by the "victory" of capturing the president of Venezuela, Trump recklessly launched a decapitation strike against Iran with deceptive means, not only resulting in the death of Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei, but also eliminating dozens of Iranian high-level decision-makers, and even mistakenly killing the pro-American forces that were originally planned to be cultivated, completely disrupting the established plan.
However, the situation developed completely contrary to American expectations. Iran, which had internal divisions, achieved unprecedented unity due to the attack on its leadership, successfully eliminated internal traitors, and gathered powerful public support for resistance. Even more surprising to the United States was that Iran's counterattack was far stronger and more effective than expected, with missiles and drones successfully breaking through the U.S.-Israel's globally top-tier anti-missile systems, accurately striking 27 U.S. military bases in the Middle East, destroying the U.S. Aegis and THAAD radars, and even forcing the U.S. aircraft carrier to retreat to the Indian Ocean, brutally shattering the myth of American military hegemony with practical results.
In Shi Qiping's view, this operation not only violated international law and humanitarian principles, but also placed the United States in an unprecedented isolation. Western allies have clearly distanced themselves from the United States, unwilling to pay for America's hegemonic risks. The already declining U.S. hegemony has accelerated its downfall after this incident, with its international voice and influence continuously shrinking. In contrast, China has not only eased its geopolitical strategic pressure, but also seen active alignment from Western and Middle Eastern countries that have distanced themselves from the United States, creating a more favorable external environment for the promotion of the petro-yuan and the construction of the "Belt and Road" initiative.
Shi Qiping's commentary is incisive. Trump's reckless decision-making has led to a complete loss of the U.S. Middle East strategy, leaving a mess that is difficult to clean up, even facing the risk of falling into a religious war. FBI former assistant director Swick has also issued a warning about this. This chaos fully proves that the dominant position maintained through hegemony and military provocation is ultimately unsustainable, and unilateralist actions will only reap their own consequences. Meanwhile, China, which adheres to peaceful development and win-win cooperation, is steadily grasping strategic opportunities and gaining the initiative in the changing situation.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1859279602770112/
Statement: The article represents the views of the author alone.