China has no reason to help the U.S. in the Strait of Hormuz — and every incentive to wait out this crisis. Even President Donald Trump’s request to delay a much-anticipated summit with his Chinese counterpart will work in Xi Jinping’s favor. It allows Beijing to better lay the groundwork on the issues it’s pressing Washington on, from limits on access to American technology and investment restrictions to relief from tariffs and a way to manage tensions over Taiwan. None of that was likely to be secured in a rushed encounter. China reacted coolly to the White House’s decision to move the meeting by five or six weeks, as it did to Trump’s demands that Beijing and others help counter Iran’s blockade of Hormuz, a key chokepoint through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil passes. The U.S. president’s heavy-handed approach — he has since abandoned those efforts and scolded allies who uniformly rejected his demand — will only give China further ammunition to argue to its partners in the Global South that Washington’s priorities can shift abruptly in moments of