The following brief article by Brian Berletic, originally published on his Twitter/X, addresses a question that has been raised by some anti-imperialist commentators since the launch of the criminal US-Israeli war on Iran: why has China not directly intervened militarily to stop this aggression. Berletic argues that the answer lies primarily in structural and military realities rather than political will.
First, he explains that, in stark contrast to the US, China’s military doctrine focuses on defending its own borders and deterring threats along its periphery. As a result, it lacks the logistical infrastructure and global deployment capacity necessary to intervene in a distant conflict such as a war in West Asia.
Second, he highlights the extensive regional military network the US has spent decades building around Iran. This includes bases, logistics hubs, air defence systems and political alliances with multiple regional states, as well as military occupations in Iraq and Syria. To directly counter a US military operation in this environment, China would need a comparable network of bases and alliances in the region – something it neither possesses nor seeks to establish.
Third, he argues that China deliberately avoids building influence through military domination or occupation, which differentiates its foreign policy from that of the US. Attempting to match Washington’s global military posture would require a fundamentally different approach to foreign relations.
Instead, Berletic suggests China’s support for Iran takes less direct and obvious forms: economic cooperation to mitigate sanctions, technological assistance for domestic defence production, and supplies of military equipment.
He concludes that the constraints facing China – and similarly Russia – reflect practical limits rather than indifference, warning that blaming them for US actions ultimately deflects responsibility from Washington.
Why isn’t China intervening to stop the US war of aggression against Iran?
Somehow this is still a question people are asking, so I will explain.
- China’s military is built to defend China within and along its borders against a massive and growing US military build-up all along its peripheries ongoing for decades.
Its forces are organized around hardware designed specifically for this purpose – not to project military power around the globe like the US does – and the US has these capabilities because it is an aggressor – not for national defense.
China literally has no ability to project the military power required to confront and successfully stop a full-scale US war of aggression on the other side of the planet with the capabilities it has for national defense;
- In order to launch this war on Iran – the US spent decades building up a network of global and regional bases, logistical networks, ammunition depots, fuel dumps, regional integrated air defense capabilities etc. to first encircle Iran – then attack it.
China would be required to create an equal or greater network throughout the region to stop this- and this simply isn’t possible;
- The US built its network up through both politically capturing nations in the region (Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait) and invading/occupying them (Iraq & Syria).
China simply doesn’t conduct its foreign policy this way – because if it did – it would be just as bad as the US itself;
- If you think China could simply project military power over the horizon – this is even more difficult and unrealistic. This requires huge amounts of long-range aircraft, immense aerial refueling capabilities, and long-range munitions as well as forward bases at least near the region to do so.
Sending naval vessels would simply place them at the mercy of a better prepared and more extensive military positions the US has established over decades as explained above;
- What China has likely done is all that it could do – provide economic support against illegal US sanctions, provide technical/material support for Iran’s military industrial production, provide military support through the transfer of weapons and equipment.
All of these have their limits especially in terms of the transfer of military equipment to Iran – which takes YEARS to train Iranian personnel on EFFECTIVELY, as well as to integrate it through training in modern combined arms operations.
This last point regarding the amount of time it takes to effectively integrate new military hardware into a military is exactly why Ukraine has failed to absorb and fully utilize floods of Western weapons and equipment in the US proxy war on Russia being waged there.
CONCLUSION
There are real-world limitations on what nations like Russia and China can do against US wars of aggression elsewhere especially considering the fact the US is waging proxy war on both Russia and China at the same time it wages direct war on Iran.
Russia and China are doing what is realistic and within their capabilities – and are constantly expanding their own capabilities in order to do more when possible.
Do not confuse real limitations with a lack of concern or will – and realize blaming Russia or China for a US WAR OF AGGRESSION simply serves Washington’s agenda – not Iran’s or any of its allies.
