Chinese President Xi Jinping and Jordan's King Abdullah II have called for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz to return to normal and for the Iran-US ceasefire to be preserved, in a joint statement after talks in Beijing.

The appeal points to mounting pressure from major trading and energy-importing states over a waterway that Iran has kept closed to normal traffic since its war with the US began in February, through which about a fifth of the world's seaborne oil passes.

China, the largest buyer of Iranian crude, has a direct stake in reopening the strait, while Jordan sits among the regional states exposed to the conflict's wider fallout.

The two leaders called for a comprehensive solution, reached through dialogue and negotiation, capable of eliminating the true causes of regional tension, according to the statement. They said shipping through the Strait of Hormuz should be ensured in a normal manner.

The intervention comes with the ceasefire under strain. An April truce led to a memorandum of understanding signed in June, but implementation stalled in a dispute over shipping routes and fighting resumed in July, with US President Donald Trump reinstating a blockade on Iranian shipping and a 20% levy on transiting cargo.

Iran has said it will not reopen the waterway to normal shipping while US military action and the naval blockade continue.

Talks between Iran and Oman on a new traffic separation scheme through the strait have reached their final stages, though Tehran has stressed that a technical deal on shipping lanes would not by itself restore traffic.

Xi and Abdullah held their meeting in Beijing earlier on August 24.  King Abdullah II arrived in China on August 18 for his first visit in more than a decade, pressing for Chinese investment in energy, aviation and technology.

The king travelled with an economic ministerial delegation, with cooperation agreements expected to be signed. He is scheduled to meet President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang and Zhao Leji, chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, and to visit Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Bilateral trade has grown to $6.7bn, with China becoming Jordan's top trading partner last year. Past cooperation has spanned the Belt and Road Initiative, a $2.3bn memorandum on a national railway, a roughly $700mn Chinese industrial city in Aqaba, and energy deals covering solar, wind and oil shale.

Abdullah said he wanted China to use its weight as a UN Security Council member to push for a two-state solution, calling the Palestinian issue the core problem in the region. Jordan backs an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital.