Chinese ships get "Red Sea Pass"

According to the Tass news agency on the 19th, Mohammed Bakiti, a member of the Political Bureau of Houthi armed forces, said in an interview with Russian media that "as far as ships from all other countries, including Russia and China, their navigation in the region will not be threatened. In addition, we are prepared to ensure their safety when crossing the Red Sea, because freedom of navigation is also important to our country."

Earlier, Houthi armed forces attacked merchant ships related to the United States and Israel in the Red Sea in order to "support Palestine", and the United States fired missiles against Houthi armed strongholds. Due to the intransigence between the two sides, the shipping volume through the Red Sea plummeted by 70% recently.

Industry figures say the merchant ship's detour around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa has hit Asia particularly hard. The cost of container shipping has increased by 10 to 14 days. The war risk rate for cargo shipping has soared from just 0.01 percent of the value of ships in early December to 0.7 percent today. That means the cost of insuring a $100m container ship has soared from $10000 per trip to $700,000 today.

In response to the current situation in the Red Sea, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular press conference on the afternoon of January 19 that China believes that it should avoid adding fuel to the tension in the Red Sea and pushing up the overall security risks in the region.

Mao Ning said that Foreign Minister Wang Yi emphasized that the tension in the Red Sea is a prominent manifestation of the spillover of the conflict in Gaza, so it is imperative to quell the war in Gaza as soon as possible to prevent the conflict from further expanding or even getting out of control. 

中国船只获得“红海通行证”

       据塔斯社19日报道，胡塞武装政治局成员穆罕默德·巴基蒂在接受俄媒采访时表示，“就包括俄罗斯和中国在内的所有其他国家的船只而言，他们在该区域的航行不会受到任何威胁。另外，我们准备确保他们穿越红海时的安全，因为航行自由对我们国家也重要。”

       此前，胡塞武装为了“声援巴勒斯坦”，在红海袭击与美国和以色列有关的商船，美国发射导弹打击胡塞武装据点。两方互不相让，受此影响，近期通过红海的航运量暴跌70%。

       行业人士认为，商船绕道非洲好望角对亚洲的打击尤其严重。集装箱船的航行时间增加10天至14天，成本大幅提升。而货船航运的战争风险率已从去年12月初仅占船舶价值的0.01%飙升至今天的0.7%。这意味着一艘价值1亿美元的集装箱船的保险成本，从每趟1万美元飙升至如今的70万美元。

       针对当前的红海局势，外交部发言人毛宁1月19日下午在例行记者会上应询表示，中方认为应当避免给红海的紧张局势火上浇油，避免推高地区整体的安全风险。

       毛宁称，王毅外长强调，红海局势紧张是加沙冲突外溢的突出表现，所以当务之急是应当尽快平息加沙的战火，防止冲突进一步扩大，甚至是失控。