"Even as China wants the latest Middle Eastern conflict to wind down so it doesn't damage China's export-oriented economy, militarily, the conflict has been an intelligence gold mine for China. Beijing has shown it is tracking U.S. efforts in the Strait of Hormuz closely, fine-tuning its estimates of U.S. capabilities. China is also studying how Iran has largely succeeded in keeping the U.S. Navy outside the Persian Gulf and disrupting commercial shipping there."

"Iran borders the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 25 percent of seaborne oil and almost 20 percent of global LNG supplies pass. Meanwhile, Chinese territory runs along the western side of the Strait of Taiwan, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. Around 44 percent of global container shipping passed through the Taiwan Strait in 2022."

"China does have at least 1,400 ballistic and cruise missiles in southern and eastern China that could be fired at U.S. surface vessels, including the DF-21D and DF-17 missile systems. China's military has converted hundreds of obsolete J-6 fighters into attack drones. Beijing is also experimenting with drone minelayers with the intention of using these to hinder U.S. vessels in the Taiwan Strait in the event of a naval confrontation."

"China's leadership vows to push forward with infrastructure projects, boost tech self-reliance and safeguard energy security. At a meeting on Tuesday, the country's Politburo stressed the need to boost the nation's tech self-reliance and control over its industrial supply chains."

"China's strategic reserves of oil and natural gas have insulated it somewhat, but its manufacturing-based economy is beginning to falter."

"They cannot normalize nor can we tolerate them trying to normalize a system in which the Iranians decide who gets to use an international waterway and how much you have to pay them to use it."

"at least four to six months"