How China Sees The War

by Patrick Appel

Evan Osnos gives the Chinese perspective on Iraq:

China was never fond of the war for both practical and philosophical reasons. It was one of five countriesthe others were Russia, Indonesia, India, and Vietnamthat had oil deals in place with Saddam Hussein when the U.S. invaded. It has since recovered its position, and far more, emerging, as the A.P. put it in June, “as one of the biggest economic beneficiaries of the war, snagging five lucrative deals.” While Western oil companies responded coolly to Iraq’s recent oil auctions, Chinese companies shrugged off “the security risks and the country’s political instability for the promise of oil.”