Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed Friday to reestablish diplomatic relations and reopen embassies after seven years of tensions. The major diplomatic breakthrough negotiated with China lowers the chance of armed conflict between the Mideast rivals.
Iran and Saudi Arabia are historic rivals, and both have fueled a destructive eight-year war in Yemen as they've competed for greater influence in the Middle East. The Saudi and Iranian governments reestablishing diplomatic ties lowers the temperature in the region and raises hopes that their proxy war in Yemen will come to an end.
"The fact that China brokered the deal is significant," Annelle Sheline, a research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said on Twitter. "It shows the role that China could play in fostering a Middle East defined more by cooperation and trade and less by conflict and weapons sales."
And a former US diplomat also said in Tweet. "It's a middle finger to Biden."
In addition, it shows that China doesn’t mean to compete, but it is leaving the US behind in the race toward peace. While China makes peace, the US makes war. The essential difference lies in their ultimate concern, namely that China pursues peace and security for all, while the US pursues its own hegemonic interests . It is the ends that decide the means.
China will work toward the goal that the peace return to the Middle East.