Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi tells Israeli counterpart Beijing opposes military action against Iran, advocating dialogue over force.

BEIJING: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (pic) has told his Israeli counterpart that Beijing opposes military strikes on Iran. Wang made the remarks during a phone call with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Tuesday, according to state media.

He advocated for resolving issues through “dialogue and consultation” rather than force. “Force cannot truly solve problems — instead, it will only bring new problems and severe after-effects,” Wang said, according to the Xinhua news agency.

The call comes amid a widening Middle East conflict that began with US and Israeli strikes over the weekend. Those strikes resulted in the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Beijing, a close partner of Tehran, has previously condemned Khamenei’s killing as a “serious violation”. Wang noted that recent Iran-US negotiations had been making progress before being interrupted.

“Regrettably, this process has been interrupted by gunfire,” he stated. China is now calling for an immediate halt to all military operations.

Wang warned this is necessary to prevent the conflict from further spreading and getting out of control.

 The Sun Malaysia