{"id":112251,"date":"2026-05-13T17:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T17:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/112251\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T17:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T17:46:08","slug":"trump-xi-summit-chinas-help-in-iran-may-require-us-concessions-us-israel-war-on-iran-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/112251\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump-Xi summit: China\u2019s help in Iran may require US concessions | US-Israel war on Iran News"},"content":{"rendered":"

When President Donald Trump<\/a> meets with his counterpart, Xi Jinping, a new item will be added to the long list of issues of mutual interest and potential disagreement between the United States and China: the war in Iran.<\/p>\n

US officials have suggested that China should play a greater role in pushing Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, but analysts say Beijing will require concessions from the US, likely over Taiwan, if it were to aid in resolving the crisis.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

And Iran is unlikely to be at the top of the agenda in the Trump-Xi meeting<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Iran issue is not really the central issue for either party in this summit,\u201d said Christopher Heurlin, an associate professor of government and Asian studies at Bowdoin College.<\/p>\n

Heurlin said that, although the meeting was delayed earlier this year due to the war, Taiwan will remain China\u2019s top issue, while Trump will likely push Beijing to buy more US soya beans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

China is a major importer of Iranian and Middle East oil, so its economy could come under strain from the disruption caused by Tehran\u2019s Hormuz blockade and the US naval siege on Iran.<\/p>\n

Still, Heurlin said Beijing has been reluctant to get involved in the crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of Iran, the Chinese have sort of been positioning themselves as someone who might possibly be helpful in this regard,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey hosted the Iranian foreign minister recently, but it seems like they\u2019ve been holding off on putting any pressure on Iran to end the conflict, just waiting for this visit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump \u2018chastened\u2019<\/p>\n

While Beijing has amassed oil reserves that have helped it weather global energy shortfalls, such resources are finite, so China has an interest in opening the strait.<\/p>\n

At the same time, if Washington \u2013 Beijing\u2019s chief strategic competitor \u2013 is weakened globally from the Iran conflict, which is increasingly looking like an unwinnable war<\/a> for many observers.<\/p>\n

The Economist magazine summed up that dynamic on its front cover last month, featuring a photo of Xi looking at Trump with a quote attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte: \u201cNever interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inderjeet Parmar, professor of international politics at City St George\u2019s, University of London, said Trump heads to China \u201cchastened\u201d by the shortcomings of the Iran war.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo Trump is going there in a bit of a situation,\u201d Parmar told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe needs Chinese support for opening the Strait of Hormuz. China needs the Strait of Hormuz to open for its own reasons \u2013 of oil and energy from Iran and so on. At the same time, they can use this as leverage regarding Taiwan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump said before departing for China on Tuesday that he does not need<\/a> Xi\u2019s help on Iran, saying that the conflict is \u201cvery much under control\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, with petrol prices in the US skyrocketing and fuelling inflation<\/a>, diplomacy stalled, and Trump\u2019s popularity plummeting<\/a>, the war appears to be hampering the Republican president\u2019s domestic and global standing.<\/p>\n

Last week, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called on China to intervene in the crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe attacks from Iran have closed the strait. We are reopening it. So I would urge the Chinese to join us in supporting this international operation,\u201d Bessent said.<\/p>\n

He also underscored that China is the top importer of Iranian oil, accusing Beijing of \u201cfunding the largest state sponsor of terrorism\u201d, referring to Tehran.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s see them step up with some diplomacy and get the Iranians to open the strait,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s plan<\/p>\n

William Yang, senior analyst for Northeast Asia at the International Crisis Group, said China and the US both want Hormuz to open, but \u201ctheir preferred approach to achieve this goal don\u2019t align.\u201d<\/p>\n

While China has been calling for restraint from all sides, Trump has been threatening Iran<\/a> with enormous military attacks almost daily.<\/p>\n

Iran has refused to hold direct talks with the US before Washington lifts its naval blockade.<\/p>\n

A US military initiative to reopen Hormuz<\/a> by force, while maintaining the siege on Iranian ports, earlier this month was short-lived, ending in less than 48 hours without significantly increasing traffic in the strait.<\/p>\n

\u201cWashington understands that it may need Beijing\u2019s help to nudge Iran back to the negotiating table, but it is also aware of the implications of directly seeking support from Beijing to end the blockade, as it would likely mean giving China the upper hand in the bilateral relations,\u201d Yang told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result, Trump has been trying to push Iran to accept the conditions that the US had put forward through coercion, threatening to resume bombing if Tehran doesn\u2019t agree to its terms.\u201d<\/p>\n

In April, Xi proposed a \u201cfour-point plan to safeguard and promote Middle East peace and stability\u201d:<\/p>\n

Commitment to peaceful coexistence
\nRespect for national sovereignty
\nCommitment to international law
\nBacking a \u201cbalanced approach to development and security\u201d<\/p>\n

While vague, the proposal reflected a preference for multilateralism and diplomacy in contrast with Trump\u2019s reliance on military power to advance his goals in the region.<\/p>\n

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi hosted his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi<\/a>, last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cChina believes that a comprehensive ceasefire is of utmost urgency, that resuming hostilities is even less\u2002acceptable, and that adhering to negotiations is particularly important,\u201d Beijing\u2019s Foreign Ministry said after the meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cChina supports Iran in safeguarding its national sovereignty and security, and appreciates Iran\u2019s willingness to seek a political solution through diplomatic channels.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, China called for restoring \u201cnormal and safe passage\u201d through Hormuz, which appears to be at odds with Iran\u2019s claim of sovereignty over the strategic waterway<\/a>, which emerged after the war.<\/p>\n

US-China ties<\/p>\n

China buys oil from Iran despite US sanctions, and Washington has voiced concern about Beijing\u2019s sale of products that could be repurposed for military use by Tehran.<\/p>\n

However, before the war, the Iran file was an afterthought in the competition between the US and China.<\/p>\n

Over the past two decades, Washington has come to see Beijing as its top global challenger as the Chinese economy and regional and global influence have grown.<\/p>\n

During his first term, Trump formally recognised China as a strategic competitor of the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough the United States seeks to continue to cooperate with China, China is using economic inducements and penalties, influence operations, and implied military threats to persuade other states to heed its political and security agenda,\u201d the 2017 US National Security Strategy read.<\/p>\n

\u201cChina\u2019s infrastructure investments and trade strategies reinforce its geopolitical aspirations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former President Joe Biden picked up where Trump left off with his administration declaring Beijing<\/a> a \u201cpacing challenge\u201d for Washington.<\/p>\n

The US has pushed to deepen its alliances<\/a> in the Asia Pacific region to counter China\u2019s rise.<\/p>\n

As the competition intensified, the relationship between the two countries soured in recent years over several points of tension: trade practices, sanctions, Beijing\u2019s claims to the South China Sea, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the status of Taiwan.<\/p>\n

Ties particularly worsened in 2022 when then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Months later, there was another crisis \u2013 Washington accused Beijing of sending a \u201cspy balloon\u201d into US airspace<\/a>. China insisted that the aircraft was a weather balloon that drifted over the US.<\/p>\n

But since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump and his administration have put less emphasis on the great power competition.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s most recent National Security Strategy said the US aims to shift<\/a> its focus to the Western Hemisphere, rather than the rivalry in the Asia Pacific region.<\/p>\n

Still, tariffs and trade remain a major irritant in the relationship. Iran and Taiwan could also exacerbate tensions.<\/p>\n

What might China want?<\/p>\n

While Iran considers itself a regional power and stresses its independence from allies and foes alike, China does have levers of leverage that it can crank up against Tehran \u2013 namely, trade ties.<\/p>\n

But if Xi were to help Trump in his push to reopen Hormuz, the assistance would not come for free, analysts say.<\/p>\n

A major priority for Beijing is Taiwan, the self-governing island that China claims<\/a> as its own.<\/p>\n

While the US nominally has a \u201cone China policy\u201d, it has armed and forged trade ties with Taiwan, while stopping short of officially recognising the island as a state.<\/p>\n

Trump is yet to sign off on the latest arms package to Taiwan \u2013 worth $14bn \u2013 which has been approved by Congress.<\/p>\n

Parmar, the professor, said China may demand opposition to Taiwanese independence in exchange for putting pressure on Iran to reopen Hormuz.<\/p>\n

Heurlin also said China is mostly interested in talking about Taiwan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey see the Trump administration as potentially vulnerable or perhaps more persuadable on their position on Taiwan, and specifically, it sounds like the Chinese are going to be trying to convince Trump not to go forward with this weapon sale agreement that\u2019s been essentially sitting on his desk,\u201d Heurlin told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

Brian Osgood contributed to the reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When President Donald Trump meets with his counterpart, Xi Jinping, a new item will be added to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112252,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[178,262,38,34,49,42,51,57,73,986],"class_list":{"0":"post-112251","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-iran","8":"tag-asia-pacific","9":"tag-china","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-iran","12":"tag-middle-east","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-us-canada","16":"tag-us-israel-war-on-iran","17":"tag-xi-jinping"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116568522322346017","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}