China’s foreign minister rejects regime change in Iran

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has criticized the US-Israeli attack on Iran, arguing that there was no popular support for regime change.

Power does not give anyone the right to act, and the world must not return to the “law of the jungle,” said China’s chief diplomat on Sunday on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing.

China is calling for a ceasefire and an end to the war.

“This is a war that should not have happened — it is a war that does no one any good,” an official write-up of Wang’s comments in English read.

China, major importer of Iranian oil, had already condemned the attack, calling for an end to military operations and security in the Strait of Hormuz for the sake of the global economy.

Wang’s comment at the annual press conference during the NPC offered journalists a rare opportunity to ask the minister questions.

Without mentioning the US, Wang also called for the sovereignty of countries in the Middle East to be preserved, the use of force to be avoided, non-interference in the affairs of other countries and the political resolution of conflicts there.

Seeking regime change will find no popular support, Wang said.

Wang, who also sits on the powerful Politburo of the Communist Party, spoke on the phone with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and other top diplomats shortly after the US attack.