Mr President, please exercise restraint – Hu Xijin

Following the Iran attacks against US forces in Iraq, we are starting to hear the first international responses with China's and The Global Time's Chief in Editor, Hu Xijin, speaks out and has said,

Mr President, please exercise restraint. The strength of the US is known to all. There's no need to prove it. Restraint won't harm your image, it will only show your sense of responsibility for peace.

The implications of a war between Iran and the US are devastating to world peace. Until this point, Beijing has been muted on the US’s killing of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani which had suggested that China still isn’t ready to join Russia in taking a more direct role in the Middle East’s entrenched conflicts. Beijing has so far stayed out of President Donald Trump’s efforts to ratchet up pressure on Tehran, although the nation had been defending the Iran nuclear deal and had been criticizing the US’s unilateral sanctions.