Our view While Washington blockades Iranian ports and threatens new strikes, Beijing is doing what is usually called diplomacy: meeting, proposing dialogue, going to the region. We believe China is no altruist: it needs stable supplies of oil and gas and influence in a region the Americans have “managed” for decades. But the difference is obvious: one side blocks sea lanes and threatens a “hammer”, the other proposes a negotiating table. The US wants the Middle East to remain a field for its blockades and bases; when the Chinese minister says the region must not become an arena of great-power rivalry, Washington, we think, hears a challenge rather than a call for peace. This is an editorial opinion. The mainstream assessment Analysts see this as an attempt by China to strengthen its diplomatic weight and protect its energy interests. Western commentators doubt that Beijing can change anything without leverage over Tehran and Washington; Beijing insists it is betting on dialogue. What happened China’s special envoy Zhai Jun will visit Iran, Oman and Saudi Arabia. What is known, how it is assessed and what we think. On November 2 Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that China’s special envoy for the Middle East, Zhai Jun, would visit Iran, Oman and Saudi Arabia in early and mid-November. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Ali Bagheri Kani, deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and said that all parties to the conflict should seek a political solution rather than take up arms again. He added that China supports Iran in defending its sovereignty and security. After talks with Saudi national security adviser Musaed bin Mohammed Al-Aiban, Wang Yi said the situation in the region had “again reached a critical crossroads between war and peace”. The news comes amid fears that the United States, together with Israel, could strike Iran right after the US midterm elections on November 3. Read also: Iran: Qatar seeks a deal while the threat of new strikes hangs over the elections. Sources Arab News, 02.11.2026 Al-Monitor, 11.2026 China-Global South Project, 02.11.2026 Photo: US Department of State, public domain, Wikimedia Commons (Wang Yi at talks in Bali, 2022, archive photo). Post navigation The US Proposes Bringing Russian Gas Back to Europe Through Ukraine Iran Offers to Reopen the Strait of Hormuz in Two Days
