BLUF:
[American Thinker] BRI
| China’s Belt and Road Initiative |
has become global. As of April 2023, 148 countries have signed memorandums of understanding, have joined (very interesting map here) China’s economic scheme. Twenty-six low-income countries and thirty-nine lower-middle-income countries have joined, just under half of all BRI participants. Forty-one upper-middle-income countries and thirty-three high-income countries constitute over half of the BRI participants. Members include U.S. allies. BRI also works with 18 E.U. countries and 9 G20 countries. So China won’t miss Iran if Iran somehow avoids BRI’s consequences.
Here’s China-Iran’s connection to Hamas. Palestine, which is not an independent country, has also signed.
Now China, Iran’s largest trading partner, wants to be on both sides of the conflict. It didn’t condemn Iranian funder Hamas or declare that Israel has a right to self-defense. It wants to play peacemaker. Yi discussed the war during a recent visit to Washington, D.C., pledging to have Beijing use its relationship with Iran to prevent the conflict from spreading. Why? Philip Andrews-Speed, a specialist in China’s oil policies, said, "[China] is highly exposed to the current instability in the Middle East, especially if it escalates." China is calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war because it depends on stable energy markets to fuel its economy.
Of course the bumbling idiot who occupies the Bully Pulpit threw U.S. weight behind China. |