Post #5629

Trump’s Clash With China: From Hormuz to Armageddon When China declared on Monday that the U.S. blockade of Iranian oil leaving the Strait of Hormuz was “dangerous and irresponsible,” it was a brief window into Trump’s latest challenge: how to keep the Iran conflict from upending an emerging détente with China. Trump is expected to land in Beijing in four weeks, in what was imagined as a carefully planned, highly orchestrated effort to recast the relationship between the world’s two largest economies. Trump has already delayed the trip once, and White House officials insist there is no discussion of putting it off again, even if the United States is still choking off Iranian oil exports. Ninety percent of those exports — more than 1.3 million barrels per day — were purchased by China before the American and Israeli attack began on Feb. 28. At first the Chinese were relatively quiet about the military action, knowing that the shipments already at sea and an impressive stockpile of emergency reserves of oil would likely tide them through. They ignored Trump’s demand that China send warships to keep the strait open. They produced standard-issue calls for both sides to stand down. Nonetheless, Trump told Fox News in an interview broadcast Wednesday that he had written to Xi to seek assurances that Chinese arms were not being sent to Iran to be used against American and Israeli forces. And he wrote in his social media post that “they have agreed not to send weapons to Iran.” The communications were kept private, so it is not possible to verify the Chinese commitment, or to determine if it came with any caveats. Trump’s tone was more positive than it was about a week ago, when the revelation of the weapons shipment intelligence led Trump to threaten that “if we catch them doing that, they get a 50 percent tariff,” employing his go-to threat against any country defying his will. The exchange underscored how delicate the relationship is right now — and how the Iran conflict threatens to upend it. Trump’s ambassador to China, David Perdue, was in the Oval Office late on Tuesday, discussing the upcoming visit. National security officials said that before the Iran conflict broke out, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had negotiated the outlines of economic initiatives the two countries would announce. Far less progress has been made on the major security issues, according to U.S. officials, including how to talk about the future of Taiwan, or China’s fast-growing nuclear arsenal, or its military buildup in the South China Sea and the confrontations it has sparked with the Philippines. But there is considerable evidence the Chinese military is intently focused on how the United States pulled off both attacks. Chinese officials appear concerned about the speed at which the Iranian leadership was decapitated in the opening hours of the war. With a month to go before Trump lands in Beijing, it is still unclear how the two leaders will structure a conversation about the blockade — if it is still in force — or about the display of U.S. military power that began with the seizure of Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, then proceeded with Trump’s attack on Iran. The blockade, Xi said, could “create awkward dynamics” if there is a confrontation between the Navy and commercial Chinese ships, though both have seemed eager to avoid that. “And the second is reports that China is considering sending lethal assistance to help Iran,” which senior congressional and intelligence officials appear to take seriously. #trump#xi#china#iran#hormuz 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸