Is China a winner from the Red Sea attacks?

During 12 hours of meetings on January 26th and 27th in Bangkok, America’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, tried to persuade China’s foreign-affairs chief, Wang Yi, that China’s influence could be used to stop the threat to a major artery of global trade. China, however, views its responsibilities differently. It does not want to flex muscle in the Middle East. China sees the region’s security as a quagmire of America’s making. It is exploiting an opportunity to talk up solidarity with the Arab world.

America believes that Iran is encouraging the Houthis and that China, which has close ties with the government in Tehran, could help persuade the country to stop the Red Sea attacks.

China appears to believe that the threat from the Houthis is bearable.

COSCO has said it would re-route its ships around the Cape of Good Hope and stop delivering to Israel. But some of its vessels have continued to ply the Red Sea. Ships try to protect themselves from Houthi attacks by making clear a link with China in their automated identification systems—transponders that are fitted on ships above a certain tonnage on international voyages. By late January, more than 30 vessels per day in the Red Sea were advertising such a connection, Spire Global’s analysts found