China under pressure as Trump ties high-stakes summit to Strait of Hormuz crisis

2026.03.16 15:20 US President Donald Trump (left), pictured here with Chinese President Xi Jinping, has threatened to postpone his trip to Beijing unless China helps break Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Photo: AFP Trump’s threat to postpone his Beijing trip unless China helps break Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has fused two crises Beijing had sought to keep apart: the unravelling of Middle East stability and the fragile thaw in US–China relations. China, the world’s largest buyer of Gulf oil, is now being forced to weigh its economic reliance on stable energy routes against its tradition of non‑interference in diplomacy, according to observers. While Beijing is eager to host Trump for a strategically important summit later this month, observers said China was unwilling to be seen as yielding to pressure and being drawn into a US-led military intervention, or allowing the visit to be used as leverage. In a Sunday interview with the Financial Times, the US leader explicitly tied his planned visit to China, the first of his second term, to Beijing’s cooperation in reopening the Strait of Hormuz. “It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there,” Trump said in the interview, echoing his call a day earlier demanding that US allies and Beijing send warships to the key shipping route, through which about 20 per cent of the world’s oil supply flows. Oil prices have surged past US$100 per barrel, with the number of vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz falling to zero on Saturday for the first time since US and Israeli military operations against Iran began two weeks ago. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs pushed back against Trump’s threat on Monday, reiterating its call for de-escalation in the Middle East while stressing the “irreplaceable” role of head‑of‑state diplomacy and underscoring the importance Beijing attached to Trump’s planned trip. Ministry spokesman L

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