Opinion

As Red Sea shipping attacks continue, pressure grows for China to act

Despite the Houthis’ promise of safe passage, Chinese vessels remain at risk of being wrongly targeted

The crisis presents an opportunity for China to take more decisive action, including jointly with the US, in spite of the geopolitical challenges

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Nong Hong, PhD, is executive director and senior fellow at the Institute for China-America Studies in Washington, US, and a senior fellow with the Beijing Club for International Dialogue.

Published: 5:30am, 13 Feb 2024

The disruptive consequences of the attacks on Red Sea shipping by Yemen’s Houthi rebels were underscored recently by Jan Hoffmann, the logistics chief at Unctad, the UN trade body. These incidents, he noted, were exacerbating the vulnerabilities of global trade and supply chains, adding to the challenges arising from the Ukraine conflict and from reduced shipping in the Panama Canal, where water levels have been dropping due to climate change.

The armed Houthi rebel group, which has taken up the cause of the Palestinians, has said it is only targeting merchant ships in the Red Sea with an Israeli connection, promising safe passage for vessels from China, Russia and other nations. In a significant attack last month, however, Houthi militants fired missiles at a tanker carrying Russian oil near the coast of Yemen.

It underscored the group’s inability to precisely identify its targets, and suggests it may be a matter of time before Chinese vessels come under attack. China’s approach to the situation reveals its challenges, both economic and geopolitical.