China’s been very quiet during Trump’s Iran war. There’s a good reason for that

April 7, 2026 — 5:00am

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America went to war against Iran. And the winner is? China.

“If you’re looking out at this from Beijing, what’s not to like about it?” poses Steve Biegun, US deputy secretary of state in Donald Trump’s first administration. “The US is distracted. It’s depleting its military capabilities, at least in the short term.”

South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung last month publicly expressed concern at how many US air defence systems were being transferred to the Middle East for Trump’s war, leaving its South Korean ally exposed. Similarly, the US has shipped air defence systems and Marines out of Japan to the Middle East. Aircraft carriers have been diverted and missile stockpiles spent at an astonishing pace.

For instance, at normal production rates, it will take the US five years to replenish the supply of long-range air-to-surface cruise missiles that it is using against Iran, reports Bloomberg.

The more the US is entangled in Iran, the better for China. While Trump is neglecting the main theatre of global power – the Indo-Pacific – China is focused. While Trump is destroying, China is building. It’s building credibility, building goodwill, building its military stocks, building power as an energy supplier to its neighbours.

“The US could get bogged down in a war in the Persian Gulf, and that’s not going to help us send a convincing message of deterrence [to China] in the western Pacific, especially if we’re depleting our capabilities in order to try to........

© The Age