China as mediator
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Asked in April 2024 what China and Russia would do if an Israeli,Iranian war broke out, John Kiriakou answered by describing a role China had already been quick to accept.

"Just last week, and I don''t even remember now who it was, it may have been the Polish president, suggested almost offhandedly that maybe the Chinese would be interested in mediating. And then within 48 hours the Chinese were offering to mediate."

The argument from history

Kiriakou''s reason for treating the offer as credible is a claim about the Chinese record, offered with an explicit disclaimer of sympathy. "One thing about China, I''m not a fan of the Chinese government, of course, but the Chinese do not, with very specific exceptions, have a history of imperialism. They took Tibet, absolutely; they took it and they''ve held it ever since. They have fought border wars with the Indians, they have fought border wars with the Vietnamese. But they don''t go around the world invading other countries or attacking other countries. It''s just not something that''s a part of their foreign policy."

The conclusion he draws is a division of roles: "I can''t see the Chinese becoming directly involved in a Middle East conflict. I do believe that the Chinese will offer to mediate." Russia, by contrast, "absent a conflict in Ukraine, would have to come in on the side of the Palestinians, not militarily necessarily, but with weapons and with assistance and matériel and ammunition." His own hope, given the nuclear powers involved, was simply "that cooler heads in a situation like that would prevail."

See also

- China as economic threat
- The permanent multipolar world
- Refusal To Talk To Adversaries
- Ukraine as a proxy war
