Refused to join US coalition.. "Washington Times": China seeks to conclude a deal with the Houthis to avoid targeting its ships

The Washington Times reported that Beijing is seeking to strike its own deal with the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels to protect its maritime interests. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell recently revealed that the Chinese government had rejected a US request to join an international naval fleet to protect cargo ships in the Red Sea.

The newspaper quoted a Western diplomatic source as saying, “China refused after the Biden administration’s request to join the maritime coalition, based on an internal assessment that the Palestinian-Israeli war in Gaza and the attacks on ships were a major setback for the global image of the United States.” Beijing believed that its participation would benefit Washington - its main strategic competitor - and therefore refused to participate.

Campbell, speaking to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace last week, said Beijing had sought to devise a system of direct communication with Houthi officials to avoid attacking Chinese ships, and instead have the rebels attack American and allied cargo ships, an approach he called “completely unhelpful.” The effort failed after the Houthis attacked a Chinese ship.

Mr Campbell revealed that once the Iranian-backed Houthis began attacking and hijacking ships in the Red Sea, “we turned to Chinese interlocutors to work with us or with some elements of the international community to try to protect that shipping,” including Chinese-flagged ships and other ships carrying Chinese-made goods.

Campbell said the Chinese were asked to use a squadron of naval vessels based in Djibouti for escort and security operations.

The Djibouti base is located across the Bab el-Mandeb Strait from Yemen. The vice minister said the idea was for China to repeat its participation in anti-piracy missions in the region from 2008 to 2016:

"We thought there was a real chance that China would say yes, because the shipping that was affected was very much a lifeline for China," Campbell said.

“After studying it for a while, we realized that what the Chinese should do, rather than join any kind of international maritime coalition, is take steps to engage directly with the Houthis with the idea of, ‘Look, these are our ships and these are not our ships. Target different ships,’” he said.

“This is completely unhelpful and indicates an approach to shared global resources that raises real concerns for us,” Mr. Campbell said.

The Western diplomatic source said the Houthi attacks, which began in November, have been more effective and sophisticated than initially expected, and are increasing in number. The attacks prompted the United States to form a coalition of countries to confront the attacks, which have disrupted shipping from 65 countries through the Red Sea, including 28 countries that have rerouted ships to avoid the attacks.

According to the report, the proposed naval fleet is set to escort ships and conduct defensive operations against missile attacks and hijackings.

In December, Operation Sentinel of Prosperity was launched as a multinational initiative to protect shipping in the Red Sea. Twenty countries are participating in the operation, including warships from the United States, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the Seychelles, and the United Kingdom. Several other countries have kept their roles secret.

Attack on Chinese ships

China’s hopes of striking a deal of its own were quickly dashed. In March, Houthi rebels fired five missiles at the Chinese oil tanker MV Huang Po, which was damaged and set on fire but continued on its course.

The attack occurred despite the Houthis having previously announced that they would not attack Chinese ships, but China immediately contacted the Houthis to inform them that they had attacked the wrong ship.

Another difficulty in countering attacks on shipping in the Red Sea is that Iran, which is suffering from US sanctions, sells 90% of its oil exports to China, the newspaper said. Energy ties give Beijing diplomatic leverage over Iran, the main sponsor and arms supplier to the Houthis in Yemen’s long-running civil war.

Mr Campbell said in remarks last week that China, led by President Xi Jinping, seeks to displace the United States from its role as world leader and assert Chinese global hegemony.

“Chinese leaders have always had some concerns about American leadership, whether it’s a view that the United States sees the potential for regime change in Beijing, that’s always been a motivating concern, but for a number of reasons, there’s a sense that it’s time for China to assert itself and help move the United States off the world stage,” Campbell said.

China is targeting a U.S.-led “operating order,” which Campbell said has created peace, security and prosperity for the Indo-Pacific. “I think some of the changes that President Xi and China are trying to make now would go to the heart of that operating order in ways that are contrary to our interests and the interests of our allies and partners,” he said.

He noted that the Biden administration did not seek to contain or constrain China, but rather is responding to expansionist and aggressive efforts to undermine American interests. These reasons include moving away from peaceful dispute resolution, freedom of navigation, and the rule of law.

"There will be those who say let's go back to the 1990s. Let's go back to participation. I think in many ways we've moved beyond that into a new era where the dominant model is competition," Campbell said.

New Houthi attacks

The crisis in the Red Sea shows no signs of abating. The US Central Command, which is responsible for military forces in the region, said that US aircraft and warships launched attacks on more than a dozen Houthi targets in Yemen on Friday.

Last month, Houthi rebels carried out what the Pentagon described as a complex series of attacks near warships. The attacks included cruise missiles and drones. The weapons were either shot down by U.S. defenses or failed to reach their targets.

The Houthis have also targeted Israel directly recently, launching a drone attack on Tel Aviv in July and a missile in September. Those attacks prompted Israel to respond by bombing targets in Yemen, including a key port controlled by Houthi rebel forces.

A US Defense Intelligence Agency report published in March said the Houthis are non-state actors that have used Iranian support to gradually expand their military capabilities since at least 2014.

“Despite their pursuit of international legitimacy, the Houthis’ actions have damaged regional security, hampered international humanitarian relief efforts, and placed pressure on global maritime trade,” wrote analysts at the US Defense Intelligence Agency.

The report said that container shipping through the Red Sea has fallen by about 90% since February, and that shipping routes around Africa add about 11,000 nautical miles, one to two weeks of transit time, and about $1 million in fuel costs per ship.