Donald Trump Tolak Bantuan China Atasi Konflik Selat Hormuz

Sejumlah anggota parlemen dari Partai Demokrat mengkritik keputusan Presiden Amerika Serikat Donald Trump yang menolak tawaran bantuan Presiden China Xi Jinping untuk meredakan ketegangan dengan Iran di Selat Hormuz pada Jumat (22/5).

Kritik tersebut muncul setelah Donald Trump mengungkapkan bahwa dirinya menolak tawaran Xi Jinping saat melakukan perjalanan kembali dari pertemuan puncak bilateral di Beijing.

Anggota Komite Angkatan Bersenjata DPR AS dari Partai Demokrat, Ro Khanna, menilai penolakan tersebut sebagai sebuah kegagalan diplomasi yang menyia-nyiakan kesempatan besar.

"President [Barack] Obama engaged with China to get the Iran nuclear deal, and we should engage with China and our European allies to end the war in Iran and open the Strait of Hormuz. We need statesmanship, and the president missed an opportunity," kata Ro Khanna, Anggota DPR AS.

Khanna menambahkan bahwa pembukaan kembali jalur pelayaran internasional tersebut sebenarnya merupakan kepentingan bersama bagi kedua negara.

"I think it’s in both of our nations’ interests to get the Strait of Hormuz opened. So he should have just had a conversation about what Xi thought it would take to get that achieved," ujar Ro Khanna.

Di sisi lain, Donald Trump menegaskan tidak ingin berutang budi kepada pihak China dalam menangani situasi kemanan di wilayah perairan Timur Tengah tersebut.

"I’m not asking for any favors. Because when you ask for favors, you have to do favors in return, and we don’t need favors," kata Donald Trump, Presiden Amerika Serikat.

Donald Trump mengklaim kendali penuh atas jalur tersebut melalui operasi militer angkatan laut yang sedang berlangsung.

"We have total control of the Strait of Hormuz, as you know, with our blockade," kata Donald Trump.

Meskipun perusahaan pelayaran kesulitan mendapatkan asuransi akibat ancaman rudal dan drone Iran, Trump menyatakan blokade laut tersebut berjalan sangat efektif.

"The blockade has been 100 percent effective. Nobody’s been able to get through. It’s like a steel wall, it’s our Navy," kata Donald Trump.

Trump juga membantah laporan mengenai adanya pungutan biaya oleh pejabat Iran terhadap kapal-kapal yang melintas.

"They’re losing a lot of money," kata Donald Trump.

Ia memastikan pengawasan ketat terus dilakukan terhadap setiap kapal yang keluar atau masuk ke wilayah Iran.

"There hasn’t been a ship that’s been able to get through without our approval, and the Navy has done an amazing job. And no ship is going to Iran, as you know, no ship is going to or out of Iran without our approval," ujar Donald Trump.

Menanggapi sikap Trump, Anggota Komite Angkatan Bersenjata dan Hubungan Luar Negeri Senat AS, Tim Kaine, menilai argumen penolakan bantuan tersebut cukup menarik di tengah keluhan pemerintah atas kurangnya peran negara lain.

"I get what the president’s concern is, you know, that the price that China might extract for helping might not be a price he would want to pay," kata Tim Kaine, Senator AS.

Namun, Kaine mempertanyakan langkah Trump yang langsung menolak mentah-mentah tawaran tersebut tanpa mendengar proposal konkret dari Xi Jinping.

"But why not at least find out what the proposal is before you reject it out of hand? … It was not as big a topic at the summit as I thought might have been the case," ujar Tim Kaine.

Kaine menganalisis ada kemungkinan Trump merasa penutupan jalur tersebut akan menekan ekonomi China, sehingga Beijing akan bertindak dengan sendirinya.

"The president might be of the belief that the closure of the strait imposes enough economic challenge on China that they’ll take action for their own reasons, rather than because [Trump] asked him to, and in that case he doesn’t have to give them a favor," kata Tim Kaine.

Sementara itu, Anggota Komite Intelijen Senat AS, Ron Wyden, mengaku tidak heran dengan keputusan sepihak yang diambil oleh Donald Trump.

"I went to school on a basketball scholarship, dreaming of playing in the NBA, and I learned that sports was a team program and a team effort," kata Ron Wyden, Senator AS.

Wyden mengibaratkan diplomasi dan perdagangan internasional seperti kerja sama tim dalam olahraga yang membutuhkan mitra.

"It still is a team effort in areas like international trade. You’ve got to have partners," ujar Ron Wyden.

Kondisi perang yang melibatkan AS dan Israel ini memicu lonjakan harga minyak, berdasarkan hasil survei Quinnipiac University, mayoritas warga menentang konflik ini.

"What was promised to be temporary pain to fill up seems to hurt more as time passes," kata Tim Malloy, Analis Survei Quinnipiac University.

Kendati menuai banyak kritik dari oposisi, Anggota Komite Hubungan Luar Negeri Senat dari Partai Republik, Bill Hagerty, tetap membela kebijakan strategis sang presiden.

"He finally has had the wherewithal to step up and deal with this problem. Had he not dealt with it, the pace at which [Iranian officials] were producing ballistic missiles and drones would have exceeded our ability to take them out," kata Bill Hagerty, Senator AS.

Hagerty menegaskan langkah militer yang diambil pemerintah sangat krusial untuk menekan produksi senjata balistik Iran.

"It’s absolutely critical that we stepped up. I’m pleased to see that he did it," ujar Bill Hagerty.