Iran's China-only Hormuz pass is not charity — it is a live proof-of-concept that a nation under total military assault can still selectively enforce economic coercion on a global chokepoint, and that China's energy supply is now effectively insulated from the Western-initiated conflict while every other nation's oil flow depends on US Navy escort capacity that is already stretched fighting the same war.
China gets secured oil flow from Hormuz while US weapons stockpiles drain fighting Iran; Beijing then walks into the Trump-Xi meeting end of March with leverage on three simultaneous fronts — Taiwan arms, Hormuz energy dependence, and Ukraine ceasefire mediation — while the US sits across the table with depleted munitions, a $89 Brent oil price, and a NATO alliance that just demonstrated its red line is higher than a ballistic missile over Turkey.