China is accelerating its efforts to end the Iran war, walking a diplomatic tightrope as it prepares for a summit next month with US President Donald Trump while trying not to alienate Tehran.

President Xi Jinping’s mid-May meeting with Trump is shaping Beijing’s approach to the Middle East conflict even as the world’s top crude oil importer, reliant on the Middle East for half its fuel, seeks to safeguard its energy supplies, analysts say.

China’s modulated approach to the war has protected its back-channel leverage enough that Trump credited Beijing with helping to get Iran to last weekend’s peace talks in Pakistan.

“You’ve heard President Trump repeatedly mention how the Chinese talked to the Iranians,” said Eric Olander, editor-in-chief of the China-Global South Project, an independent organisation that analyses China’s engagement in the developing world. “That puts them in the room with negotiators, even if it’s not a seat at the table.”

Considering Trump transactional and susceptible to flattery, China is seeking to advance its goals on trade and its claims on Taiwan at the summit, people familiar with China’s thinking told Reuters.

The dominant view in Beijing is to “butter him up, give him a red-carpet welcome and preserve strategic stability”, one person said.

In a response to a request for comment, China’s Foreign Ministry said it has always contributed to peace and development in the region and will continue to “make unremitting efforts to restore peace” at the earliest possible date.

Trump says the visit, the first by a U.S. president in eight years, will take place on May 14 and 15.

With the US naval blockade of Iranian ports as a direct and growing threat, China has engaged in a flurry of diplomatic activity and refrained from strong criticism of Trump’s conduct of the war so that the summit, postponed once by the conflict, can go smoothly, analysts say.

Xi broke his silence on the crisis on Tuesday with a four-point peace plan that calls for upholding peaceful coexistence, national sovereignty, the international rule of law and balancing development and security.

After Trump warned Iran that “the entire country can be taken out in one night”, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning avoided condemnation, saying only that China was “deeply concerned” and urging all sides to play a “constructive role in de-escalating the situation”.