source : reuters
When U.S. President Donald Trump meets ChinesePresident Xi Jinping this week he is expected to ask for help resolving his costly and unpopular war with Iran.
He is unlikely to get the support he wants.
Analysts said that while Xi might agree to nudge Iran’s leaders back to the negotiating table, China’s leader will be reluctant to cut economic support for Beijing’s most important partner in the Middle East or to stop supplying it with the dual-use goods its military needs.
Trump, for his part, has powerful tools to pressure China – including the threat of sanctions against major Chinese banks – but using those levers could come at an unacceptably high cost for the United States.
Hopes for an agreement between the U.S. and Iran to end the conflict, which has sent oil prices soaring, have faded and the ceasefire between the countries looks increasingly shaky.
Trump aides see Beijing – the biggest buyer of Iranian oil – as one of few players able to persuade decision-makers in Tehran to finalize a deal with Washington, according to two people briefed on plans for the meeting. Absent tools to force China’s hand, Washington aims to persuade the country’s leaders that it’s in their interest that the war end now.
