China’s shock warning to the USPresident Donald Trumpthat his road to Beijing goes through the Strait of Hormuz has been an audacious move directly linking his planned visit to China on May 14-15 with the situation around Iran.

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It is more than coincidental that China’s whiplash in the form of a special press conference to mark the commencement of China’s presidency of the Security Council on May 1 at the UN in New York by its special representativeAmbassador Fu Congcame hot on the heels of RussianPresident Vladimir Putintelephoning Trump on April 28 to warn him that

“if the United States and Israel resume military action, this would inevitably lead to extremely adverse consequences not only for Iran and its neighbours, but for the entire international community…a ground operation on Iranian territory would beparticularly unacceptable and dangerous.”

Ambassador Fu, reading out a written statement, explicitly stated that the US blockade against Iran must be lifted and that the root cause of the crisis lies in the “unjust” attacks by the US and its allies on Iran.

Ambassador Fu warned that if the Strait of Hormuz is still in crisis when Air Force One lands in Beijing, it will be on top of the agenda, despite the reality that China-US relationship goes far beyond the current crisis, as the continued closure of the world’s most vital chokepoint has become an unavoidable priority.

As the world’s largest oil importer with 40 percent of its crude passing through the Strait, China views the restoration of navigation as an urgent matter of national and global interest. In Fu’s perspective, the responsibility for reopening the Strait lies with both sides. He called for a synchronised deescalation — Iran should lift its restrictions and the US should lift its retaliatory blockade.

The ambassador expressed particular alarm over the current rhetoric from Washington suggesting that the ceasefire is only temporary and urged the international community to voice opposition to the resumption of kinetic operations.

Fu’s choice of words linking the Hormuz crisis with Trump’s China visit is noteworthy:

Source: Global Research