Trump: China committed to withholding military equipment from Iran, wants Strait of Hormuz reopened
During a bilateral meeting in Beijing on Thursday, President Donald Trump announced that Chinese President Xi Jinping is committed to withholding military equipment to Iran and expressed a desire to help keep the Strait of Hormuz open.
The announcement came after Trump’s summit in Beijing where the two leaders discussed issues such as the Iranian conflict, trade, technology, and Taiwan.
“He said he’s not going to give military equipment. That’s a big statement. He said that today. He said that strongly, but at the same time he said you know they buy a lot of their oil there and they’d like to keep doing that. He’d like to see Hormuz strait opened,” said Trump in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
China has consistently denied supplying Iran with weapons, despite a report by The New York Times on Wednesday stating that U.S. officials said Chinese companies had discussed arms sales with Iran and considered routing the weapons through third countries.
Chinese Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang told reporters in late April that “we have responded to such questions many times, and we oppose the spread of false information” when asked whether China provides military aid to Iran.
Despite China’s denial in selling Iran military weapons, the White House described the president’s summit with Xi as a “good meeting” and as a significant step forward.
“The two sides agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open to support the free flow of energy. President Xi also made clear China’s opposition to the militarization of the Strait and any effort to charge a toll for its use, and he expressed interest in purchasing more American oil to reduce China’s dependence on the Strait in the future. Both countries agreed that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon,” said a White House official in a readout of the meeting.
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