With oil prices surging and the conflict in the Middle East intensifying, the economic stakes for China are rising. The cost of oil on Monday hit levels not seen in four years, one week after the United States and Israel launched an attack on Iran, an ally and financial partner to China. Fighting has halted virtually all traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical passageway for China’s energy and goods. China has a lot to lose in a widening conflict. In Iran, China found a cheap source of oil in recent years. Across the region, it found governments keen for its know-how in renewable energy and technology. China grew reliant, like much of the rest of the world, on the Middle East’s supply of both oil and gas.

Full report : China has invested billions of dollars in the Middle East, those billions are now at stake.