China Faces 2-Front Strain in US Ties as Middle East War Tests Taiwan Calculus

5 articles · Updated · South China Morning Post · May 10

China is portrayed as facing a strategic squeeze: avoid entanglement with Iran while protecting already fraught relations with the United States over Taiwan.
The argument is that Beijing needs a stable global system to sustain its own interests, making accommodation with Washington more valuable than confrontation even if US policy appears coercive.
The piece frames the Middle East war and Taiwan not as separate crises but as linked tests of whether major powers can act with foresight rather than repeat destabilizing mistakes.
At its broadest, the commentary urges China to act as a constructive power, warning that choices made across these 2 flashpoints could shape wider international stability.

While profiting from sanctioned Iranian oil, can China genuinely act as a neutral peacekeeper in the Middle East?

Is Taiwan's semiconductor dominance its ultimate shield or the very prize that makes a future conflict inevitable?