China is a clear winner from Trump’s war in Middle East, report concludes

Wind turbines and rows of solar panels in Qingyang, Gansu province. Photograph: Chen Kun/VCG via Getty Images View image in fullscreen Wind turbines and rows of solar panels in Qingyang, Gansu province. Photograph: Chen Kun/VCG via Getty Images China is a clear winner from Trump’s war in Middle East, report concludes Beijing, whose stockpiles and renewables industry allowed it to withstand energy shock, is now gaining from global solar and EV push China has emerged as the sole winner in Asia from the strait of Hormuz crisis, according to a report published on Tuesday. The report by the Asia Group thinktank concluded that China had weathered the storm of the global commodities crisis resulting from the closure of the Middle Eastern waterway, and also stood to gain from the economic and geopolitical trends sparked by the wider conflict. Iran virtually closed the strait , a vital waterway through which much of the world’s oil and gas flows, after the US and Israel launched joint strikes on 28 February, targeting government and military sites and killing Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. The ensuing crisis has sent global energy prices soaring , with Asia particularly exposed. The report noted that before the strait’s closure, roughly 80% of the oil and nearly 90% of the liquefied natural gas transiting the waterway was destined for Asian markets, along with a significant share of other critical commodities. The report looked at Asia’s largest economies – China, India, Japan and South Korea – as well as emerging markets across south-east Asia. The researchers mapped the economic and political repercussions of the crisis and its impacts across key sectors including manufacturing, energy and agriculture. They concluded that China was a clear winner from the crisis caused by Donald Trump’s foray into the Middle East. The country’s large stockpiles of oil and the hugely ambitious rollout of renewable energy mean it has been less exposed to the energy shock than other countries. 8:28 How big oil is cashing in on Iran war – The Latest China has long maintained strategic reserves of energy, and last year took advantage of cheap prices to build up even bigger stockpiles. Its crude imports grew from 11.1m barrels a day to 11.6m in 2025, with over 80% of that increase being sent to stockpiles, according to analysis by Erica Downs , a senior research scholar at the Centre on Global Energy Policy. As of January, China had enough stockpiled to cover 104 days of imports at the 2025 level. Green energy sector drove more than 90% of China’s investment growth last year, analysis finds Read more The country has also been building massive amounts of renewable energy infrastructure in recent years. Last year it installed 315GW of new solar capacity, more than half of the world’s new solar. The year before, it added 277GW. Beijing is aiming for half of China’s energy to come from non-fossil sources by 2030, with the share from wind and solar reaching 30%, up from 22%