India and China are performing an awkward tango. Each is wary of the other as partners; both are talented and experienced on their feet. But dance together they must.

In Beijing this month, India's oil minister, Mani Shankar Aiyer, signed an agreement to cooperate with China in securing crude oil resources overseas. The landmark deal is aimed at preventing fierce competition for oil from driving up the price of assets. It marks the start of a new era of energy geopolitics focused on Asia, and reveals something of how Asia's emerging superpowers intend to behave.

this article is a good companion piece to the article on China's position vis-a-vis using its veto on the Security Council in respect to Iran and its uranium enrichment/nuclear programme in that it presents China's strategic growth policy requirement for energy/oil driving foreign policy

Michael Vatikiotis: India and China: A delicate dance

The diplomatic dogfight over Iran's nuclear program is generating noise all over the world.
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why has Beijing been reluctant - so far - to renew the veto threat?

so what is more important to China? its relationship to Iran (an oil supplier to China), its domestic energy needs and the effect of sanctions on the global price of oil or China's political and economic relationship with the US and Europe?

i don't think an invasion of Iran is practical or wise but there may come a point where the US and Europe need to enact airstrikes against the Iranian nuclear installations before the Israelis do.
The Iranians may not have a delivery system but they do have Hezbollah. Do we wait for deterrence or would that be akin to risking others lives for fear of bold action? does deterrence work in a terrorist age?

What will China do? - Editorials & Commentary - International Herald Tribune