"This was a war that should never have happened, and a war that benefited no one," Wang Yi, China's foreign minister, said at a Sunday news briefing on the sidelines of the annual assembly of China's rubber-stamp legislature.
Wang, highlighting China as "the world’s most important force of peace, stability and justice," reiterated Beijing’s urgent call for an immediate ceasefire to "prevent the situation from escalating and avoid the spillover and spread of the flames of war."
"All parties should return to the negotiating table as soon as possible and resolve their differences through equal dialogue," he added.
China's deepening alarm over the conflict in West Asia comes as leader Xi Jinping prepares to host US President Donald Trump in Beijing for critical talks between the world's two largest economies later this month.
The summit is expected to cover major issues including trade frictions and Taiwan, but the escalating US-Israeli war on Iran now adds serious complications.
Complicating the upcoming negotiations further is the swiftly intensifying war in the Middle East.
Iran has long maintained close strategic relations with Beijing.
China, along with many other nations, has expressed grave concern over the assassination of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, the sharp rise in global oil prices, and the severe damage inflicted on the world economy by the US-Israeli military campaign.
More than a week after the United States and the Israeli regime launched unprovoked strikes on Iran, the war shows no signs of de-escalation.