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US President Donald Trump has played down differences with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping over Iran, asserting his country's control over the situation there. This came before he headed to Beijing for a high-level summit with the Chinese leader.
US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he had reduced differences with Chinese President Xi Jinping over the Iranian file, before leaving the White House for the Chinese capital Beijing for strategic summit talks with the Chinese leadership. Trump has made intensive efforts to pressure the Chinese leadership to use its wide influence to push Iran towards accepting US conditions to end the conflict, which has been going on for more than two months. Or at the very least reopening the strategic Strait of Hormuz, but these endeavors did not achieve the desired results. In press statements before leaving Washington, the US president sought to ease tensions with Beijing, saying: "We will have a long talk about this, and I think it was relatively positive frankly." He added moments later: "We have many issues to discuss, and I am not saying that Iran will be among them, because we dominate the situation there to a degree "Trump's stance towards the Chinese role has witnessed a clear fluctuation during the period of crisis, as he criticized China as the largest importer of Iranian oil for not taking a more active role in pressuring Tehran, while on other occasions he acknowledged the Xi government's contribution to de-escalation by pushing Iran towards ceasefire talks. For its part, Beijing officially confirms its commitment to ending the conflict and works diplomatically behind the scenes to support peace efforts. Both Iran and the United States have been indirectly criticized over the escalation. Analysts note that China is very cautious and avoids direct involvement in the dispute. In the same context, diplomatic tensions escalated as Washington imposed new sanctions on Chinese companies for their cooperation with Iran, which Beijing described as "illegal pressure." Both sides seek to avoid a full-blown trade escalation at a sensitive economic time, as analysts see Both Trump and Xi have an interest in preventing Iranian disputes from overshadowing more important issues such as trade and global economic stability.
Source: Al-Wehda Al-Arabia News Portal
