How could China step in after Iran's nuclear setback following US strikes? Experts weigh in
China's UN Ambassador Fu Cong said parties should contain the 'impulse of force, avoid exacerbating conflicts and adding fuel to the fire', particularly Israel 'should immediately cease fire to prevent the situation from escalating and avoid the spillover of war'. Iran was impacted 'but the United States' credibility was also damaged - both as a country and as a participant in any international negotiations,' he said.
In a statement exclusively to Livemint, former Israeli intelligence official Avi Melamed said, 'At this stage, it can be assessed that Iran's military nuclear programme has been significantly set back, though not entirely dismantled.' He believes Beijing is expected to pressure Iran to de-escalate.
Melamed opined, 'The Iranian regime now faces two paths, both of which it perceives as choosing the lesser of two evils. One option is to continue the military confrontation. The other is to return to the negotiating table. The distinction is critical: the military path would dramatically escalate the threat to the regime's survival, while a negotiated path—though requiring the regime to swallow a bitter pill and accept conditions it once refused to even discuss—could allow it to preserve a core power base and maintain its grip on power.'
He added, "In this context, China's role is worth watching closely. It is likely that Beijing will exert quiet but deliberate pressure on Iran to de-escalate and resume negotiations. In either scenario, a period of intense internal turbulence within the regime is expected, with consequences that remain unclear at this time.'
Senior Analyst at the Renmin University of China, Zhou Rong said, "In the war between Russia and Ukraine, Foreign Minister Wang Yi was very clear that China stood with peace and not with either side. So this time, whether it's Israel or Iran, China's position remains the same,' according to The National News.
'China will do its best to promote peace in the region. It will act within its capacity. We will do more to support Iran, morally, but no one – not China or any other country – can stop Israel's attacks. All we can do is try to form a united front against Israel's aggressive behaviour and help Iran with some level of resistance. But even then, China still hopes to stop the war between the two sides," Zhou further remarked.
Meanwhile, Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for China's foreign ministry, mentioned that the Chinese citizens in Iran who were showing readiness to leave had all been evacuated to safe areas. As many as '3,125 Chinese citizens have been safely evacuated from Iran' with the help of China's foreign ministry, the Chinese embassy in Iran and other authorities, Jiakun informed.
While Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon said the world must ensure Iran does not become a nuclear threat again, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged China to stop Iran from closing the Strait of Hormuz.
'I encourage the Chinese government in Beijing to call them about that, because they heavily depend on the Strait of Hormuz for their oil. If they do that, it will be another terrible mistake. It's economic suicide for them if they do it,' Fox News quoted Rubio as saying. He added, "If they [close the Strait]... it will be economic suicide for them. And we retain options to deal with that, but other countries should be looking at that as well. It would hurt other countries' economies a lot worse than ours."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News18
14 minutes ago
- News18
WUC weekly briefing exposes Chinas ongoing abuses and global pushback
Munich [Germany], August 16 (ANI): The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) weekly briefing has highlighted several key developments regarding China's human rights record and global the recently released brief, it stated that on 11 August, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawlor urged Beijing to safeguard the rights of imprisoned human rights defenders, many of whom are serving sentences of ten years or called on authorities to allow family and legal visits, provide adequate medical care, and ensure that detainees are held in officially recognised facilities with transparent information about their to the weekly brief, among the cases raised was that of renowned Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti, who is serving a life noted that despite her February 2025 request for detailed updates on seven defenders' health, treatment, and access to counsel, China has so far provided only vague and unsatisfactory briefing also underlined the findings of the 2024 U.S. State Department Country Report on China, which reaffirmed that genocide and crimes against humanity continue to be committed against Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples in East report documented systemic abuses, including arbitrary detention, torture, forced labour, coercive birth control measures, cultural erasure, and repression beyond China's also listed prominent Uyghur political prisoners–such as Ilham Tohti, Rahile Dawut, Gulshan Abbas, Ekpar Asat, Qurban Mamut, Hushtar Isa, Erkin Tursun, and Yalqun Rozi–whose imprisonment underscores the Chinese government's targeted persecution of intellectuals, cultural figures, and community addition, the WUC brief pointed to the enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) in the United to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, authorities reviewed 6,613 shipments in 2025, of which 5,541 shipments–worth nearly 97 million dollars–were denied entry due to links with forced labour in East of the flagged goods came from the automotive and aerospace industries, followed by apparel, electronics, and other Act, which presumes all goods from the region to be produced with forced labour unless proven otherwise, continues to serve as a critical tool in holding supply chains briefing further drew attention to China's efforts to suppress dissent World Uyghur Congress is a global organisation of Uyghur exiles that claims to speak on behalf of the Uyghur people, representing their collective interests both within China's Xinjiang region and across the diaspora. (ANI)
Time of India
32 minutes ago
- Time of India
Talks on border issue: Chinese FM Wang Yi to visit India next week; EAM Jaishankar to hold bilateral talks
NEW DELHI: Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi will visit India on Monday for talks with national security advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval under the Special Representatives (SR) mechanism on the boundary issue, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) confirmed on Saturday. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now "At the invitation of national security advisor Shri Ajit Doval, Member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi will visit India on 18-19 August 2025," the MEA stated in a release. "During his visit, he will hold the 24th round of the Special Representatives' (SR) Talks on the India-China boundary question with India's SR, NSA Doval," it added. Wang and Doval are the designated SRs for the talks. The MEA also confirmed that external affairs minister S Jaishankar will meet Wang for bilateral discussions. Wang's visit comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's planned trip to Tianjin, China, to attend the annual Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit. Doval last visited China in December 2024 and held SR-level talks with Wang. The meeting followed the decision by Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kazan, Russia, to revive various dialogue mechanisms between the two countries. In recent months, both sides have taken steps to improve relations that were strained after the June 2020 clashes between their militaries. PM Modi is expected to travel to China later this month for the SCO summit. Last month, India also resumed issuing tourist visas to Chinese nationals. The military standoff in eastern Ladakh began in May 2020, and the Galwan Valley clashes in June that year worsened ties between the two countries. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The standoff ended after disengagement from the last friction points at Demchok and Depsang under an agreement reached on October 21 last year. If the plan goes ahead, PM Modi will visit Japan on August 29 before travelling to Tianjin for the SCO summit on August 31 and September 1. There is no official confirmation yet on his two-nation trip. Modi last visited China in June 2018 for the SCO summit, while Xi Jinping visited India in October 2019 for the second informal summit.
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
34 minutes ago
- First Post
US-Pakistan ‘counter-terrorism' dialogue: A cover to suppress Baloch movement
The US, apparently the world's most powerful democracy, entirely ignores the fact that it is the Pakistani practices that are fuelling the Baloch insurgency. (Image: X@BalochYakjehtiC) If you want to collapse in shock, read the latest gem from the US-Pakistan dialogue. This one is on counterterrorism and lauds Pakistan's actions in such laudatory terms as to make any intelligence officer of any country feel sick. Regardless of reality, it seems Trump's United States is on a headlong path against India and, worse, against logic. It might be an attempt to wean the country away from China and drag it firmly into the US camp, or it could be just petty point scoring. Whatever the motives, the news is not good. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The US-Pakistan Counterterrorism Dialogue Consider the Joint Statement, which says, 'Both delegations underscored the critical importance of developing effective approaches to terrorist threats, including those posed by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), ISIS-Khorasan, and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and applauded Pakistan's continued successes in containing terrorist entities that pose a threat to the peace and security of the region and the world'. There's worse. The US 'expressed condolences for the loss of civilians and members of law enforcement agencies in terrorist incidents in Pakistan, including the barbaric Jaffar Express terrorist attack and the bombing of a school bus in Khuzdar'. There is nothing to indicate that the Jaffar bus attack killed innocent civilians, but the BLA did kill security forces and their colleagues in intelligence. True also, that the school bus attack in May 2025 was particularly horrifying. But the BLA is the last group ever to do such an attack on their own. It would set the Baloch against them, and they know it. Pakistan's agencies are not below killing their own or even the Chinese. Remember the attack on the latter at Dasu in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa last year that killed five Chinese travelling to a power project site? That was blamed on the Pakistanis themselves, to get Beijing to put pressure on Afghanistan on the TTP. And it worked. That's exactly what China did, pressuring Kabul to mend relations with Islamabad on May 21st post Sindoor, in an 'informal' trilateral interaction. Targeting Baloch Now it's the turn of the US. Its intelligence agencies are well aware of the fact that the Baloch have never ever targeted the US, not even when its logistics lines were going through their land to fight the mujahideen or later the Taliban. In fact, the odd reality is that the Majeed Brigade, now officially designated as a terrorist group, have only attacked the Chinese relentlessly for poaching on their land at the behest of the 'Punjabis'. Logic demands that the US should quietly give them a hand against their sworn competitor. But it seems not to be. The farcical nature of the whole joint statement is apparent from the fact that the Pakistani signatory was Nabeel Munir, Special Secretary to the United Nations. Not a single Pakistani counter-terrorism official or anyone from the Interior Ministry. Last year's dialogue also had similar representation but was far less laudatory and more matter-of-fact. It also noted US training of Pakistani personnel on counterterrorism. Most importantly, the 2024 statement made no mention of the BLA, though it was designated as a terrorist group in 2019. This time the focus is almost entirely on it, with the TTP just an add-on. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Accommodation of Pakistan's Balochistan Narrative by the US That is a worrying slide in policy, accommodating Pakistan's frequent complaints of Indian backing of the Baloch resistance. The one and only 'evidence' that Rawalpindi claims is the arrest of former navy officer Kulbushan Jadhav, who was kidnapped from Iran and brought into Pakistan and made to 'confess' to various sins. Compare this to the available data on Pakistanis not in prison for terrorist activities, drug running and the like, but the hundreds of protests and agitations organised every year on 'Kashmir Solidarity Day' or on any pretext whatsoever on Kashmir. There has yet to be a single protest in India on Balochistan. The Indian public is largely ignorant of the serious Baloch crisis which has been brewing since Pakistan's independence, with rebellion after rebellion leading to the kidnapping, torture and deaths of thousands. That includes entirely peaceful protestors like the charismatic Mehrang Baloch, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and now languishing in prison — with no access allowed to her family — and others like Mama Qadeer, leader of the 'Voice of Baloch', nominated for the Nelson Mandela peace award. Others, including their family members, lie incarcerated too. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Yet, the US, apparently the world's most powerful democracy, entirely ignores the fact that it is such Pakistani practices that are fuelling the Baloch insurgency. Even if a foreign power is training fighters, it cannot, by any stretch of the imagination or even with the largest purse, create the groundswell of support for the fighters among ordinary people. Also Baloch insurgency has turned a page. It is no longer a platform for the somewhat elite tribal leaders. BLA fighters are heavily part of student organisations and carry those ideals with them that lie with the youth. Shari Baloch, the first female suicide bomber, was an academic with an degree. An additional point the US agencies would obviously know. There is not a shred of obscurantism or extremism about the BLA. US Motivation and Further The question that then arises is US motivation for this unalloyed public support, with the State Department spokesperson reiterating the important role played by the US in ending the conflict while then referring to the US–Pakistan counterterrorism dialogue. But the curious part is that there isn't very much else. No great US financial largesse has come in. The F-16 package of $397 million is a technical package that also prevents these aircraft from being used against India. Neither have there been any weapons commitments — yet. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Pakistan gets almost its entire weaponry from China, but it is parity with India that Pakistan craves, now that the Terrorist Resistance Front, a proxy of Lashkar-e-Taiba, was designated by the US recently. There is another important aspect. It might also mean that US Central Command is legally free to act against BLA—at least with intelligence—much as it used its drones to kill TTP leaders, on Pakistan's urging. This is dangerous stuff. Meanwhile, the designation benefits China in multiple ways. As a commentator says, it will secure Chinese projects and deal a blow to India. The hope among Pakistanis and Chinese is that Trump will mention—at the very least—that India is a state sponsor of terrorism. It could happen. So far it seems this is a personal grudge held by Trump against India because Delhi refuses to recognise a US role in ending the recent conflict or accept mediation. The latter is non-negotiable, and the State Department bureaucracy probably understands that. The former is a different thing altogether. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Delhi could acknowledge that Islamabad—as expected—went running to the US the moment it faced serious damage to its installations. That has been true for almost every single conflict between the two. India should also have anticipated the Trump offer of mediation, given that he offered this to an exuberant Imran Khan in 2019. Pakistan took advantage of that. India got the 'bad guy' image again, as Rawalpindi knew it would. Time to change corners, as it's going to be the Baloch who will suffer. Acknowledge the historical truth of the Pakistan army using the US for its own mischievous ends. On no account must Islamabad be rewarded with 'mediation', simply because there is nothing to mediate. Especially since it has yet to detain or even mildly shake its finger at the many terrorists within its soil. Meanwhile, it's time to name and shame. Get each terrorist into the limelight through media and diplomacy. Ramp up the terrorist dialogue. As the late strategic affairs analyst K Subramanyam used to say, even if one person listens, that's good enough. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The author is Director (R&A) at the Centre for Land Warfare Studies. She tweets @kartha_tara. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views.
