Stability in Kurdistan Region Is Essential for the Whole Region Says China's Consul General in Erbil

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - For fifty consecutive days, China's Consul General in Erbil did not go home. Liu Jun lived inside his office, watching missiles arc across the night sky, unable to leave.

It was, he told Kurdistan 24, a reminder that no one in this region — not even a diplomat from a country not party to the conflict — is fully immune from its consequences.

In an exclusive interview on Friday, Liu Jun offered Beijing's most direct public assessment yet of the war engulfing the Middle East, the Kurdistan Region's precarious position within it, and what China believes must underpin any lasting peace.

He also addressed accusations of Chinese military support for Iran, laid out the state of Sino-Kurdish economic ties, and closed the conversation with a word of Kurdish he had been practicing.

'A Big Tragedy'

Asked to assess the regional situation, Liu Jun did not reach for diplomatic abstraction. He reached for numbers.

"In Iran alone, almost 3,500 people have lost their life," he said. "Another 35,000 people have been injured.

That's a huge casualty." Across the broader region, he described economies ground to a halt, flights grounded, and the free movement of people paralyzed. "Everything stopped," he said. "That's a tragedy."

His diagnosis of the root cause was pointed. "This region has been trapped in the vicious cycle of violence," he said, attributing it to what he called "brutal foreign interference of the big powers" and solutions he described as unjust and one-sided.

"We believe that we should not return to the world that the might makes right. We should not return to the law of the jungle."

Beijing's Four Principles for Peace

Liu Jun said China has been actively engaged in diplomatic efforts since the war began, with President Xi Jinping raising the conflict in meetings with leaders of Gulf nations. He outlined four principles Beijing has proposed for resolution.

The first is coexistence — the idea that neighboring states, however antagonistic, cannot be relocated and must ultimately learn to live alongside one another.

The second is national sovereignty, which Liu described as "the lifeline for developing countries — like bread and butter." Without it, he argued, no security is possible.

The third principle is adherence to international law, and specifically the UN Charter. "We don't have a unified world government, but we have the United Nations," he said.

"If basic international law governing international relations is not respected, the whole world will be in disorder."

The fourth principle is balance between security and development. "It's like the two sides of the same coin," he said. "Development is the foundation for security, while security is the guarantee for long-term development. We cannot separate each other."

Living Through the Conflict in Erbil

When the conversation turned to the Kurdistan Region's own experience of the war, Liu Jun stepped out of diplomatic register entirely. "I'm speaking not like a diplomat," he said.

He described spending the entirety of the fifty-day conflict — from Feb. 28 through Apr. 7 or 8 — inside his office, unable to return home due to the threat of drone and missile strikes.

"I really can feel the same anxiety as you did," he told his interviewer. "Each family — it's hard to explain to the kids why this happened."

Despite the Kurdistan Region's formal non-involvement in the conflict, Liu Jun acknowledged that it had been drawn in regardless. Explosions in the sky above Erbil, drone threats, and the constant tension of proximity had made that clear.

But he praised the stance taken by Kurdish leadership, particularly the position that the Kurdistan Region should not be used as a launchpad for attacks against neighboring countries.

"I believe that position is very wise," he said. Then he added a word of caution: "My advice is that the Middle East belongs to the people of the Middle East.

You should have your own destiny in your own hands. If you put your security in the hands of others, eventually you cannot avoid involvement in the conflict. You need strategic autonomy for security."

Defending China's Ties With Iran

The interview confronted Liu Jun directly with one of the most sensitive accusations circulating during the conflict — that China had provided military support to Iran.

He denied it, and rejected the framing behind it. "This accusation is not reasonable," he said. "It is a typical example of the double standard. We see that a certain country sends massive amounts of weaponry into a conflict zone, then at the same time tells another country it cannot have any legitimate cooperation with one of them. That's not reasonable. It's a typical hypocrisy."

He acknowledged that China and Iran maintain a normal bilateral relationship but said that relationship did not extend to military support during the conflict.

China's Economic Resilience — And a Green Energy Shield

Asked what China could offer to help cushion the global economic impact of the conflict, Liu Jun pointed to Beijing's early pivot away from fossil fuels as the reason the war's energy shock had been largely absorbed.

"The impact on China was minimum," he said. "Many years ago we shifted our strategy to green energy transition. We put a lot of effort into developing high-tech green industries to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels like petrol and gas.

That's why this time we could withstand any global energy shocks."

He returned to his principle of balancing security and development, arguing that economic growth creates the resources necessary to maintain order, while security in turn protects the gains of that growth.

"It's like the two wings of one bird," he said. "Without one wing working, the bird cannot fly."

China and the Kurdistan Region: A Relationship on a 'Fast Track'

Liu Jun situated the bilateral relationship between China and the Kurdistan Region within a broader vision of global interdependence championed by President Xi Jinping — including the Belt and Road Initiative and a series of global governance proposals covering security, development, and civilizational exchange.

On the ground in the Kurdistan Region, he said, that relationship has materialized into a visible and growing Chinese commercial presence.

Chinese automobiles — Chery, Geely, Haval, and Hongqi among them — now populate Erbil's streets. Chinese mobile phones, air conditioners, and construction materials are widely available. Huawei operates in the market, and last year a Chinese mobile company partnered with a local firm to establish a smartphone assembly plant.

"Chinese companies have become an indispensable part of Kurdistan's economic growth and investment," Liu Jun said.

He estimated around 3,000 Chinese citizens are currently living and working across the Region, with more than 50 Chinese companies — both state-owned and private — operating in sectors ranging from cement and construction to manufacturing and agriculture.

He described the relationship as symbiotic. "You need China's speed and technology to build, and we need the Kurdistan Region as a strategic gateway — first to set up a headquarters, then to reach out to the rest of Iraq.

This relationship is built on mutual need and pragmatism."

Kurdish Businessmen in China

The flow of commerce runs in both directions. Liu Jun said several hundred Kurdish businessmen are permanently based in Yiwu, a city in Zhejiang province famous as an international commodity hub, where they buy goods for the Kurdistan market.

Several thousand more travel to China each year, particularly for the Canton Fair, which takes place twice annually.

"Every year we have quite a few hundred Kurdish businessmen stationed in China doing business, and also several thousand traveling to China looking for business," he said.

Visas, Travel Costs, and the Promise of Tourist Access

Liu Jun acknowledged that the cost of Chinese visas had historically been a barrier for people in the Kurdistan Region.

When the Erbil Consulate launched its own passport and visa service in January 2024, it attempted to reduce costs and streamline the process. But he said a new problem had since emerged.

"We find some issue with the Chinese visa application process. Some middlemen, some agencies, have created a new monopoly — a new interest group — to keep prices high for applicants," he said. "We have noticed this issue and we are going to do a bottom-down overhaul to tackle it."

He also confirmed that the Consulate had received authorization from Beijing to begin issuing tourist visas — a new development that could eventually open the door to direct flights between China and cities in the Kurdistan Region. "We are now working with some travel agencies to have a new approach to issue the tourist visa," he said. "In the near future I hope that people from here who travel to China can get a visa easily and at a reasonable cost. And eventually, when we have more demand for traveling to China, I believe direct flights will follow through."

On Runaki and the Kurdish Future

Asked about the Kurdistan Regional Government's ninth cabinet and its flagship Runaki electricity project, Liu Jun was unambiguous in his praise.

"The Runaki project is so important — very critical," he said. "It is not only an infrastructure project but also a livelihood project, a public interest project.

When you can enjoy 24-hour electricity supply, it improves your quality of life and supports the whole community." He recalled the frequency of power outages he had personally experienced in Erbil and said he hoped the project would continue.

"If you have a stable, continuous supply of electricity, we don't need those private generators. We will have a clear sky, more fresh air. That's good for everybody."

Dolma, and a Word of Kurdish

Near the close of the interview, the questions turned personal. Asked which Kurdish food he enjoys most, Liu Jun did not hesitate.

"The most delicious food I like is Dolma — hazelnut Dolma," he said. "I'm not a meat person, but Dolma is so delicious."

And had he learned any Kurdish? He paused — then attempted a phrase: "Zmani Kurdi dazanm belam zmani Kurdi zahmata" — I speak a little Kurdish, but the Kurdish language is hard.

He closed with a message for the people of Kurdistan. "The Kurdish people have suffered a lot," he said.

"We have tremendous sympathy, and we appreciate your resilience and perseverance. In the future, we wish to work together to have more innovation, encourage entrepreneurship, and create more jobs for the young generations.

We want to share our experience of modernization. Eventually, by working together, the Kurdistan Region can achieve prosperity — at the same time as having security."

Full Transcription of the Interview with China's Consul General in Erbil