CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Unexpected Gifts: Beijing and Moscow Gain from Trump’s War

I have previously commented about the strategic blunders the Trump regime has made in its war on Iran. Add this one: the gains both China and Russia have made at US expense. While the war has had costs for both those countries, on balance it has benefited both more.

The US war on Iran has put China in an uncomfortable position. With Donald Trump’s official visit upcoming in April, the Chinese don’t want to go overboard in their criticism. On the other hand, they have built up a “strategic partnership” with Iran and see opportunities to strengthen China’s public diplomacy in calling out US aggression. “Taking advantage of another’s misfortune,” a Chinese saying goes—schadenfreude. Accordingly, China is denouncing the US war and rhetorically supporting Iran while doing nothing to upset the timetable for Trump’s visit.

China needs Iran’s oil, which accounts for roughly 13 percent of China’s oil imports. China no doubt also values Iran as a thorn in the side of US diplomacy in the Middle East. But the Trump visit and the opportunity for a landmark trade deal looms larger than defense of Iran—even to the point of stopping daily military flights near Taiwan.

Foreign Minister and communist party politburo member Wang Yi set out the official line on Iran by saying, in a phone call with the foreign minister of Oman:

“Despite progress in the [US-Iran] talks, the U.S. and Israel deliberately provoked a war against Iran, which clearly violates the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. China believes that the pressing task now is to........

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