While the battle between the combined forces of US / Israel and Iran rages on, China hasnt exactly been a quiet bystander.
China has taken an official stand that the strikes on Iran are a clear violation of international law , they have not shown any willingness to intervene militarily in the current conflict .
Iran is one of the most important ally's of China's in the Middle East. China has even entered into a strategic partnership with Iran to counter the growing US influence in the Middle East
. Iran ( along with Russia )is Beijing's most crucial partner also for its energy security and oil supply, and most interestingly, its Taiwan strategy.
About 55% of China's crude oil is currently sourced from the Middle East . Of this , 13% alone comes from Iran. China is one of the biggest crude oil buyers from Iran (along with India) . It supplies more than 80% of crude to China at steep discounts. Beijing benefits greatly from this arrangement and also has access to supply the energy resources from the Strait of Hormuz sea route, which is bordered by Iran.
Additionally China imports 31% of its LNG from the Middle East. Qatar supplies 28% of this requirement, with the remainder shipped from Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
China has a spy ship Liaowang -1 that is siting off the coast of Oman with eyes on the entirely conflict - espectially US actions . This vessel is gathering real time data on US carriers, US bases in the region , F35 jets and radar sites. All this intelligence data is making its way to Iran.
Unfortunately the U.S cannot do anything about it as any strike on the Chinese vessel is an invitation to China which has the largest navy by number of ships to enter the war .
Meanwhile , Iran with al this intelligence data that has been fed by the Chinese is landing precise hits with all its drones and misslies . Four AN/TPY-2 sites ( which serve as the backbone of the THAAD system ) across the Arabian Peninsula , an AN/FPS-132 early warning radar in Qatar, two AN/GSC-52B SATCOM terminals at the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain have all been hit which means 3 THAAD batteries available to defence the gulf region have been operationally compromised.
This cannot be attributed to blind luck . The Chinse satellite company, MizarVision has been posting images of American positions . This in addition to the intelligence data received from the Kremlin
have upgraded Iran's strike capabilities.
Additionally, the Liaowang -1 uses its radar and sensors to track any EMG signals from US positions which proves as an early warning system to the Iranians.
The US thinks its in a battle with Iran but the real chess game is with China