Houthi rebel attacks expose PRC’s disingenuous platitudes, failure to protect global commons

FORUM Staff

Iranian-linked Houthi rebels have attacked commercial vessels in the Red Sea and northwest Indian Ocean more than 50 times since mid-November 2023. Operating from Yemen, they sank a ship in February 2024, killed three crew members and injured four others in March, and have damaged more than 20 ships, according to news reports.

The attacks have caused an international shipping crisis, forcing hundreds of vessels to reroute around the southern tip of Africa, at great cost to companies, consumers and nations.

In December 2023, the United States launched Operation Prosperity Guardian, a coalition that now includes more than 20 nations, to protect merchant vessels transiting the key Red Sea chokepoint, which connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal to the Horn of Africa. The European Union’s Naval Force also created Operation Aspides to protect cargo traffic in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden region. Other like-minded nations, such as India, have also deployed warships to the area, according to Breaking Defense, a digital publication.

Safeguarding international sea lines of communication (SLOC) and chokepoints is a security priority for the U.S. and its Allies and Partners. They work together to protect the global commons, conducting routine exercises and other security activities to ensure critical waterways remain open for trade and shielded from hostilities.

The rebel attacks in the Red Sea illustrate why protecting SLOCs, including across the Indo-Pacific, is vital to global security. If an adversary or malign actor attempted to disrupt or blockade chokepoints in the Indo-Pacific, for example, the ramifications could devastate commerce and threaten security.

Meanwhile, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has contributed little to international security efforts in the region, even though it professes to “disapprove of the disruptions,” Dr. Dawn Murphy, associate professor at the U.S. National War College, said in introducing a forum on the PRC’s role in the Red Sea, sponsored by the National Committee on United States-China Relations, a nonprofit educational organization.

“We would welcome a productive role for China to play, but to my knowledge, at this stage they have not offered nor are they conducting any type of operations to help safeguard mariners or international shipping,” Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the U.S. Defense Department spokesman, said in early March.

Later that month, Houthi rebels launched five anti-ship ballistic missiles at a Chinese-owned and -operated oil tanker, “despite previously stating they would not attack Chinese vessels” in the Red Sea or Gulf of Aden, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said.

One missile hit the Panamanian-flagged M/V Huang Pu, causing minimal damage but no reported casualties, CENTCOM said.

The PRC has refrained from supporting any of the military coalitions to protect commercial shipping, including Operation Prosperity Guardian and Operation Aspides, according to Breaking Defense, even though about 40% of trade between Europe and the Indo-Pacific transits the Red Sea and Suez Canal. The PRC’s oil imports, which arrive predominantly through the Strait of Hormuz, have not been affected even though Beijing imports 53% of its oil from the Middle East, analysts note.

Instead, Chinese naval craft have escorted Chinese commercial ships through the Red Sea, according to news reports.

Until the attack on the M/V Huang Pu, Chinese ships appeared to be operating as usual, with little fear of being impeded in their transits, analysts said. In fact, some ships registered in other nations raised Chinese flags or modified their identification data to indicate they were Chinese to prevent being targeted, Bloomberg News reported in January 2024.

That month, a Houthi rebel spokesman guaranteed “safe passage” for Chinese and Russian vessels transiting the Suez Canal, provided their shipments were not linked to Israel, according to the Maritime Crimes website. The pledge conferred an advantage on Beijing and Moscow by potentially lowering their shipping insurance costs, analysts said.

The PRC may be benefiting economically and politically in other ways from the attacks on Western shipping, even Chinese analysts contend, Newsweek magazine reported.

“The Houthis have turned their original blockade of Israel into a blockade against the West,” Xiao Yunhua, a professor at the People’s Liberation Army National Defense University said on the social media platform Douyin.

Xiao said the attacks have enabled the PRC to advance its rail links from Asia to Europe. “In a way, the Houthis have done us, China, a big favor,” he said, according to Newsweek.

The PRC has not denounced the rebels’ repeated drone and ballistic missile attacks on commercial vessels associated with Israel, the United Kingdom and the U.S. After urging from the U.S., Beijing in January finally pressured Iran to rein in the attacks but to no apparent avail, according to news reports.

The attack on the Chinese ship may have been prevented if the PRC had joined other nations in protecting the global commons, security analysts contend.

“Beijing is freeriding on U.S. and European security guarantees to enhance its own presence and influence in the Gulf and the northwestern Indian Ocean,” Léonie Allard, a visiting fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center, wrote in February 2024 for the U.S.-based think tank. “It is reaping benefits and advancing its own goals, while others carry the engagement and reputational costs of securing sea lanes.”