China On A Strategic Course

Halting decades of hostilities, West Asia’s two heavily oil-rich countries, Iran and Saudi Arabia, have restored diplomatic ties and warmed up to the prospects of mutual cooperation. As a result, the entire region is breathing a measure of relief. China, on the quiet, had played the peace broker, leading to the agreement between Sunni Riyadh and Shiite Iran in March. Given the long-running differences and proxy wars the two had engaged in, the breakthrough will go down as an epoch-making event of the new millennium. A durable impact of the positive type depends on how the agreement sticks and the effects it generates, as is the case with any accord.