If you listen closely to some officials of the United States administration these days, you can almost hear the toys being thrown out of the pram. In the latest outburst of petulance, one of them has accused China of "hoarding oil, restricting exports", while reciting the playlist for the greatest hits of alleged "pandemic grievances". It's less a policy statement than a soundtrack in search of a villain.

But like many other performances by them, this one reveals more about the performer than the target. He calls China an "unreliable global partner". The reason? It buys oil when supply is tight, keeps reserves when uncertainty is high, and "declines" to behave like a "supporting" actor in a movie scripted by the US.

In other words, China is doing what almost every other country has been doing since the US-Israeli military attacks on Iran turned the Strait of Hormuz into a choke point for the world's energy supplies.

As the spokesman for China's embassy in the US, Liu Pengyu, noted, calling for an immediate end to military operations in the region, the shortages facing the global energy market are rooted in the tense situation in the Middle East. His words land with the quiet authority of reason in a room full of rhetorical fireworks.

The country, having engineered a crisis that has sent oil prices soaring and paralyzed shipping, now seems aghast that others are preparing for the consequences. Having set the house on fire, it is now scolding the neighbors for storing water.

This is where the script turns from geopolitics to psychology. Some actors' behavior is a classic case of narcissistic personality disorder, in the eyes of psychologists. The symptoms are familiar: grandiosity, hypersensitivity to perceived slights, a compulsive need to reframe setbacks as victories, and projecting failure onto others to preserve a fragile sense of worth.

In this light the concept of a "reliable partner" begins to look less like a principle and more like a Rorschach test. It's the international equivalent of a narcissist's favorite accessory: the agreeable mirror. If you reflect back the desired image, you're dependable. If you don't, you're a problem.

Some insist they are winning the conflict in the Middle East for sure. Yet the strait is still closed. Energy markets don't care about narratives; they respond to shipments. And right now, those continue to be constrained.

At a time when the situation is on a knife-edge, restraint is needed to prevent the fraying cord of reason from being severed completely.

Which is why China is diversifying its supplies, building reserves and working for de-escalation with all peace-loving parties.

While taking questions on the "unreliable global partner" claim at a regular news conference in Beijing on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun simply pointed out that regarding the situation in Iran, the Chinese side has already stated its solemn position clearly.

Anyone familiar with China's position on the situation in Iran would have no trouble grasping the underlying message: the basic facts of this crisis are clear, the conflict should not have happened, and Beijing sees no further need to defend its righteous stance or justified practices.

Whether a country is a "reliable partner" is not determined by the self-serving rhetoric of those who know full well what is happening while pretending otherwise.

The four-point proposal for promoting peace and stability in the Middle East, which Beijing put forward on Tuesday, is a clear demonstration of China's commitment to not only ending the crisis but also promoting long-term peace and development in the region.

Which begs the question: Who, exactly, is the "unreliable partner"?The country acting to resolve the crisis — or the one starting and escalating the conflict, and then blaming others for the fallout?

- Li Yang, China Daily