Madar (International) - China stepped up its diplomacy in the Middle East on Monday, November 2, 2026, as President Xi Jinping hosted Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq for a state visit in Beijing and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met a senior Iranian security official, Al Jazeera English reported, citing Reuters.
Sultan Haitham is the first Omani head of state to visit China since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1978. Xi said the Middle East and the Gulf "should not become an arena for great-power rivalry and geopolitical conflict", describing bilateral ties as being at a "new historical starting point".
During the visit, the two countries signed 14 cooperation documents covering areas including artificial intelligence, green energy and supply chains, along with a currency swap agreement. In a joint statement, they called for safe navigation to resume through the Strait of Hormuz and urged the United States and Iran to restart dialogue.
Oman sits across from Iran on the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of global energy exports passed before the US-Iran war restricted traffic. China is one of the world's largest energy importers.
In a separate meeting in Beijing, Wang told Ali Bagheri Kani, deputy secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, that dialogue and negotiation remained "the only viable path forward" as conflicts in the region "drag on and risk further spillover". He reaffirmed China's support for Iran's sovereignty and security. Beijing, Iran's biggest trading partner and the biggest buyer of its crude, has consistently blamed the US and Israel for starting the conflict.
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs also announced on Monday that Zhai Jun, Beijing's special envoy on the Middle East, will visit Iran, Oman and Saudi Arabia this month.
