Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday condemned the drone attacks on two facilities of Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company Aramco.
Speaking in a daily news briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying called on the parties concerned to avoid actions that could escalate regional tensions.
“China condemns this attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities and opposes any attacks on civilians or civilian facilities,” she said and added it was 'irresponsible' to blame anyone for the attack, given the absence of a conclusive investigation.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday it looked like Iran was behind attacks on oil plants operated by Saudi Aramco on Saturday but stressed he did not want to go to war, as the attacks sent oil prices soaring and raised fears of a new Middle East conflict.
Iran has rejected the U.S. accusations that it was behind the strikes which damaged the world’s biggest crude-processing plant and triggered the largest jump in crude prices in decades.
China, the world’s largest importer of crude oil, has close economic and energy relations with both Saudi Arabia and Iran. The country has grown increasingly dependent on Saudi crude, as it has reduced imports from other large suppliers like the United States and Iran.
China’s imports from Saudi Arabia in July were at a two-year high of 1.8 million barrels a day, up from 663,000 the same month a year ago, according to TankerTrackers.com, which monitors crude oil exports from the world’s leading producers.
By Gokce Kucuk
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr