Beijing on Wednesday downplayed suggestions it was the quiet architect of the latest Iran war ceasefire, even as US President Donald Trump publicly hinted that China had helped secure the deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and pause air strikes.
At stake in the Hormuz peace arrangement is more than regional pride: the narrow waterway off Iran's coast handles around a fifth of the world's seaborne crude, and more than 40 per cent of China's own oil imports.
