The Houthi militia in Yemen continues to attack ships in the Red Sea. However, it promised safe passage for Chinese and Russian ships. Nevertheless, the People’s Republic is now pushing for an end to the attacks.
China has appealed to the Houthi militia to stop attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea. “We call for an end to threats against civilian ships in order to maintain the smooth running of global production and supply chains and the international trade order,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning.
“The top priority is to end the war in Gaza as quickly as possible to prevent the conflict from spreading further or even spiraling out of control,” Mao added. The Ministry of Commerce in Beijing also called for security to be restored in the Red Sea.
Houthi: Do not attack Chinese ships
The appeal came after a senior Houthi official assured Chinese and Russian ships of safe passage. In addition to “other countries”, their shipping traffic in the region is not threatened, said Mohammed al-Bukhaiti in an interview with the Russian newspaper “Izvestia”. This makes the request all the more remarkable. So far, China has not intervened in the conflict in the Red Sea.
Late on Thursday evening, the militia said it attacked another US merchant ship. The Iranian-backed rebels said that night they had attacked the ship “Chem Ranger” in a “targeted operation” in the Gulf of Aden off the Yemeni coast. Several rockets hit their target. In a statement, the Houthis said retaliation for the British and US attacks was inevitable and any new aggression would not go unpunished.
Drones apparently just hit the water
According to the USA, the freighter was not damaged in the attack and there were no injuries. A US Central Command post on Platform X indicated that two missiles were fired at the tanker. However, these would only have hit the water. “The ship continued its journey,” it said.
Accordingly, the tanker sails under the flag of the Marshall Islands, is owned by a US shipping company and is operated by a Greek company. According to the specialized website Marine Traffic, it was a chemical tanker that was en route from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia to Kuwait.
Biden announces further attacks
The Houthis have been attacking ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, particularly since the beginning of the war between Israel and the militant Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas. The Shiite militia sees itself as part of the self-proclaimed “Axis of Resistance” directed against Israel, which includes Hamas and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
China sided with the Palestinians in the Middle East war and is also an important trading partner of Iran, which in turn supports the Houthi rebels. These and other reasons had apparently given China some protection from attacks by the Houthi militia.
US attacks
The US and Great Britain attacked Houthi positions in Yemen a week ago in response to the attacks. The US has carried out four more attacks since then, the most recent on Thursday. According to President Biden, the USA wants to continue attacking militia positions. “Are they stopping the Houthis? No. Will they move forward? Yes,” Biden said in response to a reporter’s question.
The shipping route from the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, the Gulf of Aden to the Indian Ocean is an extremely important route for world trade and leads directly past Yemen. According to the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), twelve percent of world trade passes through the Red Sea.