CHINA PERSPECTIVE

Beijing plays its favorite role: the patient mediator who never takes real risks. The South China Morning Post announces a 'strategic coordination' with Pakistan to end the American war in Iran, language carefully calibrated—'coordination,' not 'alliance'; 'strategic,' not 'military.' China proposes, it does not impose. This is pure Xi Jinping doctrine.

The same SCMP publishes analysis revealing the China-Iran relationship is 'transactional' despite appearances of an anti-Western front. The Japan Times confirms it: Beijing has never considered Tehran an ideological ally, but as a petroleum supplier at discounted prices under sanctions. The 25-year agreement signed in 2021 (400 billion dollars in Chinese investments) has been implemented only marginally. Chinese imports of Iranian crude pass through opaque circuits—phantom tankers changing flags between the Gulf and Ningbo.

The most revealing detail comes from another SCMP article: the Iran war pushes the Philippines to draw closer to China. Marcos Jr. speaks of a 'reset' in relations with Beijing and cooperation on energy resources in the South China Sea. What Beijing never obtained through coercion in the South China Sea, the American war in Iran is handing to it on a platter. The ASEAN president invokes a 'serious restructuring' of regional foreign policies.

This is Chinese logic at its finest: let Americans bog down, propose peace, and harvest the geopolitical dividends of instability. Every day of war is a day when Southeast Asian countries recalculate Washington's reliability.