Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Araghchi on Wednesday, the official Chinese Xinhua news agency reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI hope the Chinese tell him what he needs to be told,\u201d Rubio said during a White House briefing on Tuesday. \u201cAnd that is that what you are doing in the strait is causing you to be globally isolated. You\u2019re the bad guy in this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The top US diplomat went on to argue that Beijing has been hit harder than Washington by Iran\u2019s effective shuttering of the strait during the war the US and Israel launched on the 28th of February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beijing’s export-driven economy depends on shipments going through the strait. China also imports about half of its crude oil and almost one-third of its liquefied natural gas from the Middle East, according to China\u2019s General Administration of Customs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is in China\u2019s interest that Iran stop closing the strait,\u201d Rubio said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A diplomat familiar with the matter also told The AP on Tuesday that the US has been engaging in serious efforts to persuade China to abstain from vetoing the most recent US-backed resolution at the United Nations Security Council, aimed at opening up the strait and condemning Iran\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n China and Russia \u2014 Tehran\u2019s two allies on the council \u2014 last month vetoed an earlier resolution on the Strait of Hormuz, saying it went too far and did not condemn the US and Israel for strikes that started the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rubio’s push on China to get more involved came after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday that Iran would be high on the agenda when Trump meets his Chinese counterpart, in what is the first visit by a US president to China since Trump visited in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The effective shuttering of the strait is having an enormous impact on Asia broadly, a factor that seems to have informed the Chinese government\u2019s efforts to consult with Pakistan to help mediate a two-week ceasefire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump has said he believes China played a part in encouraging Iran to agree to a fragile ceasefire that was forged last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Three diplomats who were familiar with China\u2019s behind-the-scenes efforts also confirmed that Beijing, the biggest purchaser of Iranian oil, used its leverage to get them back to the negotiating table as talks appeared on the brink of collapse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the Republican administration believes China can still do more to get involved in reopening the critical waterway to international maritime traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"US](\"https:\/\/images.euronews.com\/articles\/stories\/09\/74\/81\/12\/808x539_cmsv2_66661227-ac50-5924-aa64-7329290d6154-9748112.jpg\")
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