Before Saturday evening’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the Chinese Communist Party had demanded that Israel end its attacks on the Islamic Republic and the United States to withhold itself from the conflict. The U.S. clearly didn’t heed their demands.

It’s not because President Xi Jinping is a humanitarian or has a particular interest in the Iranian nuclear program. China sees the unrest in Iran as a possible flashpoint that could spill over and cut into national energy security.

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There is no ‘Middle East.’ There’s a Levant America loves and a Gulf China needs