WSJ: China targets US image in long-running strategic push

China is gaining a significant advantage over the United States by capitalising on the Middle East conflict and advancing in several key areas of competition, according to a report by the US Joint Staff’s intelligence directorate cited by The Washington Post.

The assessment, prepared this week for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine, has raised concerns in the Pentagon about the geopolitical costs of Washington’s confrontation with Tehran. The analysis uses a framework evaluating China’s response across four instruments of state power: diplomatic, informational, military, and economic.

Since the start of the war on February 28, China has been supplying weapons to US allies in the Persian Gulf as they attempt to defend military bases and oil infrastructure from Iranian missile and drone attacks. Beijing has also been helping countries mitigate the energy crisis triggered by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, while benefiting economically from the situation.

The report highlights a potential Chinese advantage regarding Taiwan, suggesting that the conflict has depleted US ammunition stockpiles. It also notes that China is studying US military conduct in the Iran conflict to inform its own future operational planning.

According to the document, Beijing has long sought to undermine the image of the United States as a responsible defender of the rules-based international order and views the Iran conflict as evidence of what it sees as Washington’s heavy-handed approach to military action. This narrative is said to resonate amid declining approval of President Donald Trump both domestically and globally, due to dissatisfaction with the conflict and its economic impact.

At the same time, US officials have rejected the notion of a shift in the global balance of power. Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell said, “Assertions claiming the global balance of power have shifted towards any nation other than the United States of America are fundamentally false.”

By Jeyhun Aghazada