Rather than attempts at embarrassment, sanctions, threats, or a serious military intervention that China would interpret as a challenge to its control of the oil fields, the focus should be on tying diplomatic and economic efforts together coherently, to enlist China constructively.
This can be done – because it has been done, in dealing with North Korea's nuclear ambitions. In 2006 the US pushed to get expanded voting rights for China in the International Monetary Fund, to reflect its weight in the world economy. The quid pro quo Treasury Secretary Paulson promoted was a "hope," as he gently put it, that more power in the IMF would motivate China to allow its artificially low currency to float to a market exchange rate (helping US and EU exports).
China's currency started to float. What wasn't mentioned publicly was that the offer of more IMF voting shares was also used to help get Beijing's aid in squeezing North Korea, by reducing its financial assistance to Pyongyang. And it worked. More...
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