US President Donald Trump has signaled that his visit to China later this month may be postponed.
The postponement came after Washington urged Beijing to take immediate action to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which is crucial to global oil flows.
The move reflects new tensions in already tense bilateral relations.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Trump explained that he wants China to resolve the issue in the Strait of Hormuz before a summit with President Xi Jinping scheduled to take place from March 31 to April 2.
Trump described the two weeks before the meeting as a long period of time and demanded immediate clarification.
Currently, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is holding talks with his Chinese counterpart, He Lifeng, in Paris.
However, Beijing has yet to confirm the official date of the summit, which is usually announced on the day of the conference.
Trump's visit to China will be his first since 2017 and comes five months after their meeting in Busan, South Korea, which saw a temporary truce in their trade war.
However, relations between the two countries remain shrouded in tension.
Trump has said China relies on the Strait of Hormuz for nearly 90% of its oil imports. However, the actual data shows otherwise.
Beijing has long diversified its energy sources and has built up a strategic oil stockpile with more than 1.2 billion barrels of reserves, enough to last for three to four months without new supplies.
According to Rush Doshi of the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, oil imports through the Strait of Hormuz now account for less than half of all oil reaching China.
Nomura estimates that only 6.6% of China's energy consumption depends on the route.
Satellite images also confirm that Iran is still sending large quantities of crude to China, despite rising tensions in the region.
Meanwhile, Edward Fishman of the Council on Foreign Relations denied that Trump was serious about canceling his visit to Beijing.
He also believed that the statement was merely a political bluff against China.
