https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/11/business/china-oil-saudi-arabia-iran.html
China has been active in the middle east, specifically Saudi Arabia and Iran primarily because of the abundance of oil in these regions. In March, China drafted a deal that would help Iran and Saudi Arabia foster new relations and potentially resolve unrecognized tensions between the two countries. Ever since the terrorist group, Hamas (which is primarily backed by the Iranian government), attacked Israel, China has been keeping its distance from Middle Eastern affairs. However, in the past two years, China has bought 87% of Iran’s oil exports and grows dependent on oil imports from the mideast, presently China relies on imports for 72% of its oil related goods.
Energy is crucial to China’s economic stability and national development, gasoline consumption has been at an all time high and continues to show although China has made improvements and uses primarily electric cars. China is also the number one producer of petrochemicals, which are made up of oil and other natural gasses, experts mention that they do not believe this reliance on imports will end any time soon. Although China does not recognize buying oil directly from Iran, these exports/imports are well documented internationally, and to assume China is choosing Iran over Russia because Iran’s oil is now cheaper considering the sanctions both countries are facing at the moment. If tensions in the Middle East rise, there is no telling what China is willing to back out of, however government spokespeople have said that Israel and Palestine are “a common friend”.
This article actually represents the three pillars of international relations very well, which we talked about at the very beginning of the year. The Middle East has rising tensions with Israel declaring war against the terrorist groups that continue to attack the country as well as Gaza, this concerns the International Security of the region. International Law is present with the sanctions against both Russia and Iran, and the increase in price for exports of oil. China goes with the cheaper option but is dependent on exports no matter the sanctions, their main priority is their energy and maintaining their giant economy, here we see International Political Economy and how China manages themselves.