Trump leaves Beijing 'empty-handed' as failed war on Iran boosts China's leverage over US: Analyst

By Press TV Website Staff

Washington’s unprovoked military aggression against Iran has backfired, strengthening China’s global position, says a former Malaysian lawmaker, noting that US President Donald Trump left Beijing "empty-handed" on the issue of Iran. 

Trump’s high-stakes visit to China was thoroughly overshadowed by the fallout of a costly war of aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran. This strategic misadventure drastically diminished Washington’s global standing, granting China unprecedented diplomatic and economic leverage over its key rival.

Speaking to the Press TV website, Tian Chua, a former Malaysian MP, said China has "become stronger and is gaining more international influence because of the US's aggressive and tactless blunders.”

The recent US-Israeli military aggression against Iran has exposed American vulnerabilities and fundamentally shifted the global balance of power, he noted.

Washington had calculated that escalating tensions with Iran might squeeze China's energy supplies and force Beijing's hand in broader trade negotiations.

Instead, Chua stated, Beijing is effectively turning Washington's own logic against it. According to the former MP, this failure is “giving China all the cards to turn the tables around.”

American analysts fear that instead of extracting concessions from China, the US might be forced to offer them following Trump's visit to Beijing, which grabbed international headlines without achieving anything in strategic or economic terms.

Chua pointed out that the US has already been forced to “soften its tough economic actions” against Beijing as a direct result of these shifting dynamics.

“Yet China didn't commit to resolving the Middle East (West Asia) crisis for the US.”

Furthermore, China has made it clear it will maintain its good ties with both Russia and Iran, noted the Malaysian analyst, pointing to the upcoming visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Beijing, who is slated to visit Beijing in the coming week.

Meanwhile, China is deliberately charting a cautious path, closely watching the situation in West Asia, he noted, adding that Iran’s fall “will certainly affect negatively the balance of global order, not just China's own economic interest.”

“China wants a stable international environment so that China can continue to develop and take care of its own people's livelihood,” Chua told the Press TV website. 

He said that China does not seek to establish itself as a global hegemon or a superpower in the traditional Western sense, but views itself as a developing nation with a moral obligation to support the independence and sovereignty of other developing countries.

Chua stressed that China consistently stands with nations like Palestine, Cuba, and Iran in their struggles for self-determination. However, Chinese leadership is careful to strictly separate its bilateral relations and economic negotiations with the United States from the broader regional crises unfolding in West Asia, noted the analyst.

While Beijing is willing to offer mediation, it refuses to act as “the big brother” and apply pressure on regional actors to appease Washington, the Malaysian politician pointed out.

Within this environment, China is seizing the opportunity to demonstrate to “the third world countries that it is not an imperialist power,” he said, adding that by confining Trump's visit strictly to bilateral economic negotiations and insisting on mutual respect for sovereignty, Beijing is drawing a contrast with Western interventionism.

“China is trying to show that Iran is not China's piece of chess,” Chua told the Press TV website.

He added that China firmly supports Iran’s right to self-defense, basing this stance on the inviolable principles of national independence and sovereignty.

Hence, Beijing refuses to clean up Washington's geopolitical mistakes.

“China is saying to the US: You want to talk business with us, yes. But [about] Iran, you started the war, you resolve it yourself,” Chua stated.

China is telling the US that “you cannot hurt me by attacking Iran,” noted the analyst, adding that Beijing refuses to make the issue of war on Iran a part of the US-China bilateral deal.

“To the desperation and disappointment of Trump, he will go back empty-handed,” he said, adding that Iran or Palestine was not included in the final communique.

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