The Washington Post reports:

A confidential U.S. intelligence analysis details how China is exploiting the war in Iran to maximize its advantage over the United States across military, economic, diplomatic and other fields, said two U.S. officials who have read the report.
The assessment, the officials said, was produced this week for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, and has raised alarm within the Pentagon about the geopolitical costs of Washington’s standoff with Tehran as President Donald Trump enters high-stakes talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.

Produced by the Joint Staff’s intelligence directorate, the report uses what’s known as a “DIME” framework to assess China’s response to the Iran conflict via four instruments of state power: diplomatic, informational, military and economic.

Officials talked about the finding, which has not previously been reported, on the condition of anonymity to discuss U.S. intelligence matters.

Since the U.S. and Israel initiated the Iran war on Feb. 28, China has sold weapons to Persian Gulf allies of the U.S. as they struggled to defend their military bases and oil infrastructure from Iranian missile and drone attacks, the report says.

Beijing has also assisted countries around the world struggling to meet their energy needs after the U.S.-Israeli attacks prompted Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz, a corridor for the transport of one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas.

The war has also drained the U.S. of massive stocks of munitions that would be critical in a potential standoff with China over the fate of Taiwan, the report notes. The Iran conflict, which has resulted in the damage or destruction of U.S. military hardware and facilities throughout the Middle East, has allowed Beijing to observe how the U.S. fights wars and learn how to plan its own future operations.
The report notes that Beijing has incorporated popular criticisms of the war into its public messaging, labeling the conflict “illegal.” China has long sought to undermine the image of the U.S. as a responsible steward of the rules-based international order, and it views the Iran conflict as emblematic of Washington’s cavalier approach to military hostilities. [Continue reading…]