THE ongoing geopolitical shifts in the Middle East have significantly challenged the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and regional stability.
Amid rising tensions, particularly surrounding Iran, international actors—especially within the G7—appear to be pressuring for political change in Tehran. Such efforts, often seen as undermining established international norms, risk escalating an already volatile situation. The growing threat of conflict, driven by external power alignments and military posturing, continues to endanger the region’s security landscape.
Right from the beginning of ongoing war between Israel and Iran the Chinese government, foreign ministry and its visionary leadership tried its best to “avert” the war and achieved some kind of truce through making calls and contacting the foreign ministers of Israel and Iran but still because of the Western Cold War mentality and “perpetual” hatred towards Iran the end goals of peace, stability and harmony is still a “far cry” and fears of further deterioration are gaining “momentum” after the media reports of the US Donald Trump’s alleged approval of further attacking Iran’s nuclear installations and directly targeting its religious leadership.
Most recently, while telephonically talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Chinese President Xi Jinping exchanged views regarding the situation in the Middle East. Xi’s four points proposal is timely, integrated, holistic and comprehensive covering all aspects of humanity, sovereignty, rules of international engagements and last but not least peaceful conflict resolution through dialogue, diplomacy and development. It consists of a ceasefire as an urgent priority, ensuring civilian safety as a top priority, dialogue and negotiation as the fundamental solutions and the international community’s peacemaking efforts must be indispensable. Thus it has again projected the “strategic” importance of “Xi’s global initiatives” of security and civilizational providing essential strategic items for global peace, stability, international cooperation and economic globalization resolving any conflict through peaceful means.
Unfortunately, the Israel-Iran conflict continues to escalate, pushing the Middle East towards further division and destruction. The coordination of positions between the Chinese and Russian leaders not only reflects the depth of strategic cooperation between the two countries, but also vividly reflects the importance of immediate de-escalation and safeguarding regional peace. It fears that ongoing war in the Middle East may go far beyond the scope of a conventional conflict and most recent airstrikes of Israel targeting three of Iran’s nuclear facilities clearly demonstrate increasing scale of war through trading of missiles and drones signalling the situation is at serious risk of spiralling out of control.
Regrettably, the US being a global major power with special influence over Israel, it has not yet played a constructive role rather it has continued to fan the flames, even “signalling” a willingness to get directly involved which will seriously “emasculate” the international community’s hopes for a soft landing to the crisis. Additionally, with the conflict now reaching a point of no return the window of opportunity is extremely narrow. At this critical juncture, China’s four-point proposal seems to be a comprehensive and futuristic solution addressing both immediate needs and long-term solutions of a sustainable regional peace and stability. It clearly shows China’s “ancient” diplomatic wisdom of resolving any conflict through peace and harmony, also demonstrating a strong sense of responsibility.
Critical analysis reveals that China’s four point proposal is highly “targeted” and “addresses” the core of the current issues and by calling on the parties involved in the conflict, especially Israel, to halt military operations as soon as possible, to avoid harming innocent civilians, to firmly support a political solution to the Iranian nuclear issue and urges the international community, especially major countries that have a special influence on parties to the conflict, to make efforts to cool down the situation showing the right path of reducing escalation through global joint efforts. It fears that any effort to impose a sponsored regime change through directly targeting and “assassinating” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would create very serious geopolitical and geostrategic “repercussions” in the region and beyond, destabilizing the Middle East especially Lebanon, Yemen and even Pakistan.
It fears that any “pro-Israeli regime” in Iran would further increase security threats to Pakistan and its nuclear installations in the future, adding another front of military engagement. Additionally, confirmed reports “Israeli intelligence” in Balochistan must be a wake-up for our governments and intelligence apparatus. It is a comprehensive crisis-resolution framework that is both feasible and actionable. Moreover, it is a pro-peace and anti-war recipe achieving the desired goal of regional peace through constructive neutrality, meaningful dialogue and development.
In summary, China has always been a true champion of global peace and a promoter of stability in the Middle East, as demonstrated through concrete actions. China is the biggest investor of the Middle East and wide acceptance of the BRI vividly reflects its development oriented integrated policies for greater socio-economic integration and trans-regional connectivity transforming their states, societies and paths of community development in the region.
In the near past, Xi three global development, security and civilizational initiatives remained core magnetic force to promote peace, stability and development in the region and around the globe. Thus, promoting the reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Iran to supporting Syria’s return to the Arab League; advocating the just cause of restoring the Palestinian people’s legitimate national rights to pushing for peace in Gaza and unity within Palestine and fulfilling regional peacekeeping duties to providing humanitarian aid, China constantly acts based on the rights and wrongs of each issue and the fundamental interests of the people in the Middle East. Additionally, Xi’s four point proposal actively promotes a new vision of security that is common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable.
—The writer is President, Pak-China Corridor of Knowledge, Executive Director, CSAIS, regional expert: China, CPEC & BRI.
(mehmoodulhassankhan@yahoo.com)
