Beijing: World leaders are in Beijing this week to discuss the Middle East conflict with Chinese President Xi Jinping, as the Iran war disrupts global energy flows and draws diplomatic focus to China, state media reported on Wednesday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met Xi, joining Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Vietnamese leader To Lam in this week’s talks, AFP reported.
After the meeting, Lavrov told reporters Moscow could “compensate” for China’s energy shortages as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains choked by the Iran war.
Xi has positioned China as a mediator and steady partner amid the US and Israeli-led conflict.
Xi Pledges Constructive Role
Xi assured Abu Dhabi’s crown prince on Tuesday that China would play a “constructive role” in promoting peace talks in the Middle East.
In talks with Spain’s Sanchez, Xi warned the world was facing “chaos and turmoil” and “a contest between justice and force”, urging closer cooperation.
The Spanish prime minister welcomed China’s role in seeking to resolve the conflict.
The pace of diplomacy is routine for Beijing, but the Middle East war — especially energy security — has gained urgency, said Dylan Loh, associate professor at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.
“China has got leverage and influence over Iran, and there are some hopes and expectations that China can use this influence in a more direct way,” Loh said.
Gulf countries could hope China pressures Iran to halt attacks and sustain negotiations, he added.
Energy Crunch Fuels Visits
The visitor influx “demonstrates that various actors are adjusting to the realities of an uncertain world. Engaging with the PRC, including over areas of difference, is part of this adjustment”, said Ja Ian Chong, political scientist at the National University of Singapore.
While many visits predated the crisis, those from Gulf representatives and Lavrov “seem more of a direct result of the conflict and the desire to de-escalate”, Chong said.
On a two-day visit to boost ties, Lavrov said Russia could supply China amid the Hormuz blockade.
China, a net oil importer, faces spikes in petrol, plastics and fertiliser prices from the war.
“Russia can, without doubt, compensate for the shortfall in resources that has arisen both for the PRC and for other countries that are interested in working with us,” Lavrov said at a Beijing news conference.
But “Moscow and Beijing’s interests may diverge somewhat on the war in Iran”, Chong noted.
High energy prices disrupt China’s economy but aid Moscow’s Ukraine war funding, he said.
At Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, Xi urged China and Russia to “give full play to the advantages of geographic proximity and complementarity, deepen all-round cooperation and raise the resilience of each other’s development”, according to a readout from Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
“Both sides should maintain strategic focus, trust each other, support each other, develop together,” Xi said.
