Will China's support help UAE in dispute with Iran over Hormuz islands?

In a joint statement with the UAE last week, China expressed unequivocal support for Abu Dhabi’s efforts to reach a “peaceful solution” on the issue of three islands disputed between Abu Dhabi and Tehran — the Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa.

Taken over by Tehran in 1971, these islands in the Strait of Hormuz were claimed by the UAE as an inherited historical dispute after it gained independence from the British. 

According to Tehran, the three disputed islands had temporarily fallen under British control in 1903 and were returned to Iran under an agreement in 1971 before the UAE became an independent state.

Even last year, the inclusion of the UAE’s claim in a joint communique issued by Beijing and the Arab states after the Riyadh Summit in December 2022 caused quite a stir.