Iran War Unsettles China as Beijing Watches Its Strategic Ambitions Challenged by American Military Power

China is not yet feeling the direct shock of the U.S.-Iran war, but it is feeling the ripples -- and they are deeply unsettling to a regime that has spent decades building its strategic position on the assumption that American military power was overstretched and declining. The BBC reports that Beijing is watching Operation Epic Fury with a mixture of alarm and calculation, as the rapid destruction of Iran's military infrastructure demonstrates capabilities that Chinese planners must now factor into their own contingency planning for Taiwan and the South China Sea. For Beijing, the uncomfortable question is not whether the U.S. can project overwhelming force halfway around the world -- that question has been answered -- but whether Washington's willingness to use it signals a broader shift in American strategic posture.