DgcityBeijing has launched an unusually concentrated burst of Middle East diplomacy, hosting leaders and dispatching envoys as regional officials race to prevent the conflict between Iran, the United States and Israel from escalating into a wider war. President Xi Jinping welcomed Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq for a state visit, while Foreign Minister Wang Yi sat down in Beijing with a senior Iranian security official.
Wang told Ali Bagheri Kani, deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, that dialogue and negotiation remained the only viable path as conflicts in the region drag on and risk spilling beyond their current borders. He reaffirmed Chinese support for Iran’s sovereignty and security. Beijing has consistently held the United States and Israel responsible for starting the war and has positioned itself as a neutral broker with close ties to Tehran and deepening links across the Gulf.
The Oman visit carried particular weight: Sultan Haitham is the first Omani head of state to visit China since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1978. Xi said the Middle East and Gulf should not become an arena for great-power rivalry. The two sides signed 14 cooperation documents covering artificial intelligence, green energy and supply chains, along with a currency-swap agreement, and issued a joint statement calling for safe navigation to resume through the Strait of Hormuz and for Washington and Tehran to restart dialogue.
China also announced that its special envoy on the Middle East, Zhai Jun, would travel this month to Iran, Oman and Saudi Arabia. The flurry follows a period in which its diplomatic activity on the war had quieted, prompting questions from regional analysts about whether Beijing was willing to spend political capital on ending a conflict threatening the energy routes so central to its economy.
The approach reflects a familiar pattern: economic engagement, careful public neutrality and an offer to mediate without taking sides. It also underscores how much Chinese interests now depend on Gulf stability, from oil and liquefied gas shipments to the shipping lanes of Hormuz. Whether its channels to all parties can produce anything more than statements will be measured in the weeks ahead.
