Even as China
wants the latest Middle Eastern conflict to wind down so it doesn’t
damage China’s export-oriented economy, militarily, the conflict has been an intelligence gold mine for China. Beijing has
shownit is tracking U.S. efforts in the Strait of Hormuz closely, fine-tuning its estimates of U.S. capabilities. China is also studying how Iran has largely succeeded in keeping the U.S. Navy outside the Persian Gulf and disrupting commercial shipping there.
Iran’s use of geography and low-cost units to impose economic pressure on the United States and its allies is a plan China may seek to implement itself in the Taiwan Strait during any future confrontation with the U.S. over Taiwan.
