BEIJING (AP) — The day the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, China waited several hours before taking its first official position.
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An unexpected birth now brings hopeWhat to know before asking an AI chatbot for health adviceExperts talk how to navigate distressing news stories and finding coping mechanismsYoung woman says she was on social media 'all day long' as a child in landmark addiction trialHegseth warns Anthropic to let the military use the company’s AI tech as it sees fit, AP sources sayVatican removes salty white film coating Michelangelo's 'The Last Judgment'Presidente de Cuba insta a hacer cambios al modelo económico y empresarial de la isla An unexpected birth now brings hopeWhat to know before asking an AI chatbot for health adviceExperts talk how to navigate distressing news stories and finding coping mechanismsYoung woman says she was on social media 'all day long' as a child in landmark addiction trialHegseth warns Anthropic to let the military use the company’s AI tech as it sees fit, AP sources sayVatican removes salty white film coating Michelangelo's 'The Last Judgment'Presidente de Cuba insta a hacer cambios al modelo económico y empresarial de la islaSoldiers stand watch against the national flag on Tiananmen Square during a press conference ahead of the opening of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. Chinese President Xi Jinping, bottom left, walks past then Vice Chairmen of China’s Central Military Commission Zhang Youxia, top center, and He Weidong, top right, during a session of the National People’s Congress at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, China, March 12, 2023. Soldiers stand watch against the national flag on Tiananmen Square during a press conference ahead of the opening of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. Soldiers stand watch against the national flag on Tiananmen Square during a press conference ahead of the opening of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. Chinese President Xi Jinping, bottom left, walks past then Vice Chairmen of China’s Central Military Commission Zhang Youxia, top center, and He Weidong, top right, during a session of the National People’s Congress at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, China, March 12, 2023. Chinese President Xi Jinping, bottom left, walks past then Vice Chairmen of China’s Central Military Commission Zhang Youxia, top center, and He Weidong, top right, during a session of the National People’s Congress at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, China, March 12, 2023. , China waited several hours before taking its first official position. It said it was “highly concerned” and called for an immediate halt to military operations and the resumption of dialogue. The next day, Foreign Minister Wang Yi condemned the strikes as unacceptable and again called for more talks. There were no indications of direct intervention — but such an expectation wouldn’t be realistic. As in other recent conflicts, includingon Iran, China has condemned the use of force while remaining on the sidelines, keeping in mind its long-term interests. This time, those interests include a highly anticipated visit by U.S. President Donald Trump to Beijing, expected to take place around early April.with Iran and established a base in Djibouti in East Africa in 2017. But its overwhelming focus is defending its interests in Asia, from Taiwan to the South China Sea.between Iran and Saudi Arabia in 2023. But it views the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as cautionary tales to be avoided, said William Yang, an analyst with the International Crisis Group. “China is reluctant to project military power beyond its immediate periphery and it is also unwilling to play the role of security guarantor in unstable regions like the Middle East,” he said. China’s position on the sidelines shows the limits to its influence in global geopolitics, said Craig Singleton, a senior China fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based research institute. “Beijing’s response has been predictably restrained, underscoring China’s limited ability to shape events once hard power is in motion,” he said. “Beijing can signal unease; however, it cannot meaningfully deter or influence U.S.-Israeli military action.”For Chinese leaders, the relationship with the U.S. is much more crucial than with Iran on multiple fronts, from trade and the economy to Taiwan. Beijing may have a war of words with Washington over Iran, but the downside to creating a new conflict with Trump outweighs the upside, said George Chen, a partner at The Asia Group. “U.S.-China relations are already complicated enough for President Trump and Xi to handle,” he said. Adding Iran to the mix “won’t be something that both sides are keen to do.”Energy concerns go beyond Iran’s oil China is the top importer of oil from Iran, but the government is deeply concerned with energy security and has developed alternatives. What’s most worrisome is rising prices and potentially losing access to oil and natural gas from the broader Middle East. China imported about 1.4 million barrels a day — or 13% of China’s total seaborne oil imports — from Iran last year, according to Kpler, a data and analytics company. But the firm estimates that enough oil is already in transit to last another four to five months. That would give China’s independent refineries time to adjust and seek alternatives, with discounted Russian oil as their primary option, said Muyu Xu, a senior analyst with Kpler. China has spent years diversifying its supplies and building up its reserves, Singleton said. “The loss of Iranian oil appears marginal, not material, at least in the short-term,” he said.— the narrow mouth to the Persian Gulf — is of greater concern, as are any attacks on liquefied natural gas facilities in the Gulf states.China is unlikely to send arms to Iran to help it fight the U.S. for several reasons, analysts say. “Tangible military aid, if any, would be limited to existing long-term defense trade arrangements rather than rapid battlefield support, and it would be constrained by Beijing’s interest in avoiding direct confrontation with the U.S. and its allies,” said Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat, a researcher at the Center of Economic and Law Studies in Indonesia.Iran’s missile program is based on Chinese technology, said James M. Dorsey, an adjunct senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. But he predicted that China would err on the side of caution rather than sell any missiles to the country’s military.Associated Press writers Kanis Leung in Hong Kong, Didi Tang in Washington, E. Eduardo Castillo in Beijing and Simina Mistreanu in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed.Wu covers Chinese culture, society, and politics for The Associated Press, as well as the country’s growing overseas influence from Bangkok. She was previously based in Taiwan and China.Moritsugu covers political, economic and social issues from Beijing for The Associated Press. He has also reported from New Delhi, Bangkok and Tokyo and is the AP’s former news director for Greater China and for Japan and the Koreas.
China Donald Trump Xi Jinping General News China Government Asia Pacific Energy Industry Craig Singleton Diplomacy George Chen Wang Yi World News William Yang Military And Defense Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat Iran World News
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