China, Iran & Hormuz crisis: Who gains power after the war?

[0:00] through the Strait of Hormuz account for nearly 45 percent of China's crude imports. A big part [0:05] of that oil flows from Iran despite western sanctions. These ties have come into the spotlight [0:12] in the wake of the U.S. and Israel's war on Iran. China is Iran's largest economic partner and the [0:19] primary buyer of Iranian oil accounting for 90 percent of Tehran's crude exports. The close [0:25] trade ties have also played out in the diplomatic arena. This week Beijing vetoed a U.N. Security [0:32] Council resolution on the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump has credited China and Pakistan for [0:38] helping initiate the process towards a delicate ceasefire. He's due to travel to Beijing in May. [0:47] Well joining us now from New York is Huya Wang. He's the president of the Center for China and [0:53] Globalization. That's a Beijing-based think tank. Good to have you with us. So first of all [0:59] we just heard statements there from Donald Trump saying 99 percent of the U.S. demand now is simply [1:06] no nuclear weapons. Has this position weakened the U.S. leverage not just vis-a-vis Iran but globally? [1:16] Do you think that's how it'll be seen in Beijing? Well I think that you know the both sides has been [1:24] fight for over a month now and they finally come to the sense. They come to the negotiating table and [1:32] that's where China is calling for that for a long time and I think this time you know that they're [1:37] going to be in Islamabad in Pakistan and China's played enormous role there and China's for Mr. Wang has [1:44] phoned over 20 26 other counterparts in different country of the world and particularly the U.S. [1:52] Security Council member countries foreign minister and of course China and then Pakistan are iron [1:58] brothers and I'm sure that China has a great influence and impact for this but also as you said China [2:05] is the largest import of Iranian petroleum and also the Gulf Street. Right but my question is more [2:12] how does Beijing see the result of this war so far? Who has lost leverage? Who has gained leverage? [2:20] Well I think that suddenly you know Iran has gained more leverage. I mean even though whatever 99 percent [2:30] or whatever percentage of how much its infrastructure or defense capability has been damaged but blocking [2:37] Hormuz you don't need the rocket you know you can just fishing ships can do that. So I think blocking [2:44] Hormuz is a nuclear weapon that Iran has and so that really got the whole world a chalking point [2:53] for that and also for China. So I think it's in China's interest to see this to be resolved [2:58] through Pakistan and talking directly with U.S. and Israel so I think this is good. [3:05] You mentioned the Strait of Hormuz and the flow of oil with the flow of oil reduced does that also [3:12] not reduce the demand the global demand for dollars to buy oil since we know that the oil is sold in [3:21] dollars right and does therefore the decrease in demand for dollars does that weaken the U.S. [3:29] currency or the U.S. economy in China's perspective does it see that that gives maybe China some edge? [3:38] Well absolutely I think China has actually already over the past decade depend less on the petroleum [3:46] you know half of the Chinese energy now is renewable it's a greener and also half of the [3:53] automobile driving and the Chinese roads are powered by electricity not by petroleum so [3:59] you can imagine how that has great to reduce the dependency furthermore China continue to strengthen [4:04] its green energy supply and also they can also easily buy from Russia and the central Asia and [4:11] other parts of the world so I don't think this is going to be horrible it's going to have a huge impact [4:16] in the long run for China but does have an impact for the whole world because the Europeans still [4:21] depends on it 90 percent of Japanese petroleum still depends on that and of course U.S. as a U.S. as a [4:28] security guarantee for the Gulf and the Middle East region that guarantee is not there with the Iranian [4:34] retaliations so the whole confidence is is coming down and the money investment goes to the U.S. is [4:41] coming down and furthermore the trade the U.S. dollar is coming down so overall it's going to affect [4:48] the U.S. economy strongly and and so that also affecting the world and China certainly wants to see [4:54] this to be uh saved because that's why for Mr. Wang has been phoning over 20 some ministers and also [5:01] support Pakistan to mediate and to resolve this uh right as as best as they can understood all right [5:07] thank you so much for your comments Hui Wang president of the center for China and globalization and former [5:11] councilor of the China state council