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The Chinese Communist Party proclaimed that it would \u201ccontinue playing a constructive role\u201d in peace in the Middle East following President Donald Trump and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announcing<\/a> a ceasefire on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning claimed during her regular press briefing on Wednesday that China \u201chas worked actively to help bring about an end to the conflict.\u201d Through its state media arms, Beijing\u00a0recalled that China, alongside the mediating government of Pakistan, recently published what it claimed was a \u201cfive-point initiative for restoring peace.\u201d As that proposal included no concrete recommendations on how to end the conflict \u2014 it advised Iran and America to \u201cimmediately cease hostilities\u201d and begin \u201cpeace talks\u201d \u2014 no party to the dispute offered any material acknowledgment or applied the plan in any visible way.<\/p>\n The government of Pakistan, a close ally of Beijing\u2019s,\u00a0thanked<\/a> China on Tuesday night following the ceasefire announcement. Pakistan has been serving as a mediator between Iran and America and is believed to be preparing to host peace talks to extend the ceasefire into a complete end to the conflict on Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a responsible major country, China will continue playing a constructive role and making positive contribution to restoring peace and tranquility in the Gulf and Middle East region,\u201d Mao\u00a0said<\/a> on Wednesday, according to a translation from the Chinese government.<\/p>\n \u201cSince the fighting began, China has worked actively to help bring about an end to the conflict. Foreign Minister Wang Yi made 26 phones calls with his counterparts from relevant countries,\u201d Mao asserted. The official refused to answer meaningfully when asked for details as to what China did to facilitate the ceasefire, outside of the phone calls and the \u201cfive-point initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cChina always advocates resolving disputes through political and diplomatic channels and maintains communication with various parties regarding this,\u201d she insisted. \u201cWe will continue working for easing tensions and bringing about a full stop of hostilities.\u201d<\/p>\n China Daily<\/em>, a Communist Party propaganda newspaper, published an article on Wednesday elevating China\u2019s participation in remediating the fight.<\/p>\n \u201cChina\u2019s approach has been to emphasize the cessation of hostilities and a return to dialogue. Beijing\u2019s diplomacy has been active and responsible,\u201d the state newspaper claimed<\/a>. \u201cChina\u2019s foreign minister has made 26 phone calls with parties including Iran, Israel, Russia, and the Gulf states since the outbreak of the conflict, and its special envoy on the Middle East issue traveled to the region in intensive mediation efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n President Trump announced a military operation to destroy Iran\u2019s ability to pose a threat to its enemies on February 28, titled Operation Epic Fury. That day, he also announced that the operations, taken jointly with the nation of Israel, resulted in the elimination of \u201csupreme leader\u201d Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Under the current Islamist regime, Iran is the world\u2019s most prolific state sponsor of terrorism, actively funding a host of terrorist organizations around the world, including several active in the Western Hemisphere.<\/p>\n Rhetoric surrounding the conflict escalated dramatically this weekend when President Trump published several informal messages on his website, Truth Social, threatening to destroy Iran\u2019s civilian infrastructure \u2014 and, later, its entire civilization \u2014 if what remains of the country\u2019s leadership did not agree to a peace deal by 8 p.m. Tuesday Eastern time. Trump announced abruptly, along with Iran\u2019s foreign minister, that such an agreement had been reached about an hour before the deadline.<\/p>\n China has been one of the countries most directly affected by the hostilities, as it has for years maintained its status as Iran\u2019s largest oil buyer. As part of the conflict, Iran shut down commercial traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical transit route for oil and other fossil fuels out of the region, prompting an oil panic in China, particularly<\/a> Hong Kong.<\/p>\n The leftist\u00a0New York Times<\/em> newspaper, which has in the past published Maoist propaganda<\/a>, reported<\/a> on Wednesday that China made a \u201clast-minute push\u201d to pressure Iran into accepting a deal, paving the way for the expected negotiations with the United States this weekend.<\/p>\n \u201cChina asked Iran to show flexibility and defuse tensions,\u201d the\u00a0Times<\/em> reported, citing anonymous Iranian officials.<\/p>\n The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not offer specific answers to the\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u2018s reporting on the situation on Wednesday, but emphasized its desire to see an end to interruptions of traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n \u201cThe root cause of the disruption at the Strait of Hormuz is the U.S.-Israel illegal military operations against Iran. The fundamental solution to ensuring safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz is to end the conflict as soon as possible,\u201d Mao Ning asserted.<\/p>\n China has seen much of its clout in the Middle East erode in the past half-decade as a result of its close ties to Iran with its terrorist proxy network. Iran\u2019s own influence has waned significantly in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, genocidal attacks by its proxy Hamas. The leadership of Hamas and Hezbollah, another Iranian proxy terror group, have been eliminated in the aftermath of the attacks. In Syria, Iran\u2019s puppet leader Bashar Assad was forced to flee the country in December 2024, leaving the al-Qaeda offshoot group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in charge of the country and, somewhat unexpectedly, bringing it closer to the Western geopolitical orbit and pushing it away from Iran, Russia, and China.<\/p>\n Following the announcement of Operation Epic Fury, Beijing immediately moved to portray a diplomatic role for itself in the situation, sending<\/a> an envoy, Zhai Jun, to tour the Middle East and attempt to mediate. Zhai\u2019s visits came and went with no meaningful impact on the situation.<\/p>\n China then published<\/a> its \u201cpeace plan.\u201d According to the state-run\u00a0Xinhua News Agency, the plan required: \u201cImmediately ceasing hostilities, initiating peace talks as soon as possible, ensuring the safety of non-military targets, ensuring the safety of navigation, and safeguarding the primacy of the U.N. Charter.\u201d<\/p>\n Follow Frances Martel on\u00a0<\/em>Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>Twitter.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n