Following US and Israeli strikes on Iran, China calls for an immediate ceasefire.

Concerned over U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran, China’s foreign ministry has called for an immediate ceasefire and urged all parties to avoid escalation and to start talking and negotiating anew.
Iran’s sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity should be respected, the ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

China’s embassy in Israel sent out a letter on Sunday telling Chinese nationals living in Israel to either leave the country for Egypt through the Taba border crossing or immediately evacuate to safer regions within the country.

In addition, China’s foreign ministry on Sunday listed four land routes to Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, and Iraq and urged Chinese nationals living in Iran to depart “as soon as possible.”

On Saturday, Israel and the United States attacked Iran, focusing on its military capabilities. According to state media, the operation resulted in the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei.

China’s state-run Xinhua news agency denounced the strike in a commentary on Sunday, referring to it as “power politics and hegemony” and “brazen aggression against a sovereign nation.”

Washington’s use of armed force, according to Xinhua, was a “flagrant violation” of the UN Charter’s goals and tenets as well as a break from “fundamental norms of international relations.”

In a separate development, airline Cathay Group (1981.HK), based in Hong Kong, halted operations in the Middle East on Saturday, citing concerns in the region after the strikes.

According to a statement from Cathay, the parent company of Cathay Pacific Airways (0293.HK), the suspension impacts freighter services using Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport as well as passenger flights to and from Dubai and Riyadh.