China National Petroleum Corp. has pulled out of a $5 billion natural-gas project in Iran as escalating tensions threaten to sever Beijing’s trade with Tehran, a key lifeline for the Islamic Republic.This is a fascinating dilemma for China, which likes neither the U.S. government nor Islamic people. It would appear China is allowing its economic interests and dislike of Islam to overrule its dislike of the U.S. in this instance.
The exit by Beijing—which had vowed to resist U.S. restrictions on Iran—is a blow to Tehran’s attempts to fight growing economic isolation and comes after Washington brought new sanctions on Chinese companies still trading with Iran.
Other Chinese companies—in sectors ranging from banking to autos to tech—have pulled back from Iran in recent months after the U.S. moved to squeeze the country’s oil exports and designated its paramilitary force a terrorist organization. Customs data show China—which is Iran’s last major oil buyer—imported on average 233,000 barrels a day from Iran in the May-July period, one-third of the 700,000 barrels a day it bought before the U.S. brought back sanctions.
Probably mostly economics, but China is the only nation I'm aware of that has a massive official hiding-in-plain-sight suppression-of-Islam program underway. That has to part of their consideration.
