How Much Pressure Can China Put On Iran?
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Thursday, May 14th, 2026. I'm John Sassier. President Trump's in China right now, as he's got plenty to talk about with President Xi Jinping over there. Mr. Trump says that Mr. Xi Jinping has agreed to not provide weapons to Iran during this conflict, but we know China and Iran are major trade partners in this war is putting a squeeze on Chinese energy purchases. I don't think that Beijing is looking to force Tehran into painful concessions that might cause the regime to fall or collapse and would lose some of the leverage that China currently has in the region. Fox News Rundown. At Walmart, we're helping our associates build meaningful careers. One way we're doing that, investing $1 billion in training and education. Last year, more than 100,000 associates earned promotions. Combined with benefits like 401K matching and paid parental leave, we're proving that Walmart isn't just a place to work, it's a place to grow. Learn more at walmart.com slash grow at Walmart. President Trump meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing Wednesday, these two leaders discussing of, of course, the war with Iran, and how to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which is under a U.S. Navy blockade. Tehran is also reportedly charging tolls to pass through the shipping lane where China receives as much as half of its crude oil. On Fox's Sean Hannity, the president says Xi Jinping promised him the Chinese are not sending weapons to Iran. Said that strongly. But at the same time, he said, you know, they buy a lot of their oil there, and they'd like to keep doing that. He'd like to see Hormos straight open. Chinese defense companies reportedly are planning to sell Iran new anti-aircraft systems. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer believes that President Xi Jinping is out-negotiating President Trump and leaving the U.S. in a vulnerable position. If she out-negotiates Trump, and if America emerges from these negotiations weaker than it was before, there'll be only one person to blame. Donald Trump. This summit's a big one, not only for these two superpowers, but also the rest of the world. I think from President Trump's readout, it's certainly an issue that they discussed. I think that in terms of what the president has mentioned on Iran, apparently the Chinese have pledged to not send military aid to Iran. Our guest today is senior research analyst of the Foundation for Defense of Democracy's China program, Jack Burnham. I doubt the nature of that pledge, given the fact that China has sold solid fuel ballistic missile components for Iran, has provided them allegedly with commercial satellite imagery and other things. So clearly it was a topic of conversation. Clearly, the president thinks that he got major wins on Iran. China, for its part, I think, doesn't necessarily want to be as involved as the president might hope. I don't think that this Beijing wants to get involved in a war that it did. didn't start and doesn't control. But it's certainly something the president wanted to talk about. He believes that some progress was made. But China certainly has a history of providing various military inputs to Iran. And some of that's continued, even as the conflict has gone on, particularly around drone components and things of that nature. Huge piece of this conflict, Jack, of course, has been the Strait of Hormuz. And President Trump said that Chinese President Xi Jinping would like to see the straight reopen. Is there any way China might help the United States reopen the street?
of Hormuz. I certainly think that Xi Jinping does want the strait of Hormuz open. I think that the energy shock, although China does have a certain amount of energy stowage, I think that the energy crisis certainly is hitting the Chinese economy. I think that China will lean on Iran. The Iranian foreign minister was in Beijing not too long ago. And certainly those concerns were addressed. But at the same time, I don't think that Beijing is looking. to force Tehran into painful concessions that might cause the regime to fall or collapse and would lose some of the leverage that China currently has in the region. All right, let's shift our focus from Iran to Taiwan. Of course, this has been a major bone of contention between the United States and China for a long time. China claims that Taiwan is actually their territory. Past presidents have said they would use military action to defend Taiwan from a potential Chinese takeover. China's been more and more threatening against Taiwan. It seems like... Daily, there are military exercises or boats patrolling around Taiwan. And when you read the readouts here, Jack, of these conversations between President Trump and President Xi Jinping, it seems like President Trump has been standing pretty firm on the fact that the United States supports Taiwan. Do you think he might be able to, would he soften that at all? Or do you think the U.S. is going to maintain its policy when it comes to Taiwan? I think the United States, certainly going into the summit, was very firm about the need to maintain the U.S.'s traditional stance and the status quo. And I think that that's likely going to be the case going forward. Prior to the summit in December, President Trump sold a record-breaking $11 billion arms package. to Taiwan. There's another one currently reportedly on tap for another likely 13 to 14 billion. And Taiwan has just before the summit started allocated 25 billion to buy more U.S. weapons. So certainly the relationship is not going away. In January, the U.S. and Taiwan signed a new trade deal in which Taiwan pledged $500 billion of investment into the U.S. economy. So certainly there's been a lot of growing ties between Taipei and Washington. And I think President Trump is continuing to see that go for it. And so I don't, while the Chinese are going to continue to press the issue, I don't think the United States is in a position or it's in its interest to change its perspective on the status of Taiwan. Ron, with a China expert today's. We're covering President Trump's big trip to Beijing, all with the backdrop of the war in Iran and a bogged up straight of Hormuz. Our guest is senior research analysts of the Foundation for Defensive Democracies. And their China program, Jack Burnham, ahead. We'll ask him about a California mayor who was recently arrested and is accused of being a Chinese spy. We have much more coming right up. This is a new era of American innovation. Google is offering free AI training to U.S. small businesses with a Google AI professional certificate so they can start using AI to get more done. Learn more at g.com slash American Innovation. Interesting story out of California, Jack, a mayor. Eileen Wang is facing 10 years in prison for acting as a foreign agent for China. This lady was a mayor of a city in California being influenced by China. Were you surprised about this that someone who holds pretty big political office, at least on the local level, was actually acting as a foreign agent?
And certainly those concerns were addressed. But at the same time, I don't think that Beijing is looking to force Tehran into painful concessions that might cause the regime to fall or collapse and would lose some of the leverage that China currently has in the region. I think it's surprising that whenever these cases occur, only because prosecutions of these issues tend to be historically very limited. But at the same time, China... does certainly have an interest and has operations and looking to gain influence at the sub-national level, particularly as tensions between Washington and Beijing have grown over the past several years. China is looking more at this local and state level to counterbalance some of those tensions. And so as a result, whether it be collecting information or soliciting investment, that's something that China has been going on prior to the pandemic. And it's something that while this case certainly is notable for the office that this person held. It's less notable insofar as China has attempted and continues to attempt to use subnational influence here in the United States to achieve its geopolitical objectives. Jack Burnham, senior research analyst of the Foundation for Defense of Democracy's China program, Jack, appreciate your insight. Thanks for joining us on the Fox News Rundown podcast. Thank you for having me.
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