Beijing: China has fired a warning shot at Washington, making clear it won’t cease cooperating with Iran and was prepared to retaliate if the Trump administration continued with fresh sanctions.
In a move that sets up another potential collision course with Beijing, US Treasury Scott Bessent this week declared an “economic D-Day” on Iran, seeking to sever its remaining financial lifelines by hitting collaborators with sanctions.
Beijing responded on Tuesday by defending its ties with Tehran, and warning it would not bow down to US pressure.
“China’s cooperation with Iran has always been conducted within the international framework and should not be interfered with or undermined,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a press conference in Beijing.
“China is closely monitoring relevant developments and will take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard its own interests.”
China buys as much as 90 per cent of Iran’s oil, providing Tehran with a critical source of revenue that helps sustain the Islamic regime in the face of crippling sanctions.
Any move by the US to truly strangle Iran’s finances would have to take aim at its trade ties with China, and in particular, the Chinese banks processing oil payment transactions.
Such an escalation would almost certainly blow up the fragile trade truce struck between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping last year, and derail the leaders’ high-stakes summit at the White House next month, something both Beijing and Washington have otherwise appeared intent on avoiding.
The Trump administration has given few details about exactly how it will economically decapitate Iran, other than broadly threaten foreign entities with exclusion from the US financial system if they continued to do business with Tehran.
While declaring that no country would be exempt, Bessent made clear the US was not prepared to go after the Chinese banks.
“We are giving everyone the opportunity to remedy bad behaviour. Why would I want to blow up the global financial system?” he said on Monday (US time).
Meanwhile, the US Treasury Department unveiled a package of fresh sanctions against 60 entities, including logistics and shipping companies based in Hong Kong and mainland China, but it avoided targeting major Chinese financial institutions.
China has condemned the sanctions as unilateral measures that will only worsen conflicts and called for a return to negotiations.
Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.
Lisa Visentin is the North Asia correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age based in Beijing. She was previously a federal political correspondent based in Canberra.Connect via X or email.