China opposes use of force in Middle East, warns it would 'legitimise unlawful' action: UN envoy

New York: China's permanent representative to the United Nations has voiced Beijing's firm resistance to any measures that would allow member states to engage in military action within the Middle East, Al Jazeera reported.

Addressing the international body, Fu Cong stated that such an authorisation "would amount to legitimising the unlawful and indiscriminate use of force."

Beijing's formal opposition at the UN aligns with its broader diplomatic response to recent rhetoric from Washington. China on Thursday responded to the recent "bring them back to the stone ages" remarks made by US President Donald Trump against Iran, stressing that escalation will not resolve the conflict, China Daily reported.


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Elaborating on this position, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning emphasised that "military means cannot fundamentally solve any issue, and escalation of the conflict does not serve any party's interest," according to China Daily.

The Chinese reaction was prompted by President Trump's warning that the United States was going to "hit Iran extremely hard over the next two or three weeks," a statement that has intensified global concerns over a broader escalation in West Asia. These remarks suggest that Washington's military campaign is "on the cusp" of what the President described as ending Tehran's "sinister threat" to the world.

During a national address, President Trump reaffirmed this aggressive stance even as he noted that parallel diplomatic efforts were underway. "We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We are going to bring them back to the stone ages, where they belong. In the meantime, discussions are ongoing," the US President said.

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Despite the intensity of the bombardment, Trump clarified that "regime change was not our goal," though he claimed that the deaths of Iranian officials had effectively altered the country's leadership structure. "Regime change has occurred because of the deaths of all of their original leaders. They're all dead," he asserted.

The US President maintained that the military operations would persist until Washington's specific goals are met. "We will continue until our objectives are fully achieved. Thanks to the progress we've made, I can say we are on track to complete all of America's objectives shortly, very shortly," he added.