China has rejected US government calls to stop supporting satellite images to Houthi rebels supported by Iran in Yemen they use to target international navigation in the Red Sea, the State Department said.
Spokesperson Tammy Bruce told journalists that Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co. Ltd. “Directly supports Houthi terrorist attacks supported by Iran against American interests.”
The support of the Satellite company continued despite many calls to Beijing to stop the secret support that the American intelligence services have directly linked to the continuous missile strikes on the expedition.
“Their actions and the support of Beijing to the company, even after our private commitments with them, is another example of empty claims in China to support peace,” said Bruce.
“The fact that they continue to do so is unacceptable,” she said. “We urge our partners to judge the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese companies on their actions, not their empty words.”
In Beijing, the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lin Jian, said that he did not know the support of Chinese society to the rebels of Yemen, but he denied that China will have the regional peace.
See also: China denies weapons to Russia to fight against Ukraine
“Since the situation of the Red Sea has intensified, China has played a positive role to facilitate tensions,” said Lin.
He suggested that China promotes peace while the United States is increasing tensions with sanctions and other pressures.
“China urges the relevant countries to do what is conducive to regional peace and stability, not otherwise,” he said.
The State Department rejected China’s pretension to act as an international peacemaker, noting its support for the war of Russia in Ukraine and North Korea as well as its data targeting for Houthis supported by Iran.
“China is constantly trying to present itself as a global peacemaker,” said Bruce. “However, it is clear that companies based in Beijing and China provide key economic and technical support to regimes such as Russia, North Korea and Iran and its attorney.”
“The (Chinese Communist Party) continues to allow these regimes, whether by providing double-use articles that Russia needs to maintain its war in Ukraine, the development of ballistic missiles from North Korea or Iranian terrorism support through the Middle East.”
Bruce said that the restoration of freedom of navigation in the Red Sea is a priority for President Trump. She also warned China to end the support for the Houthis.
“Beijing should take this priority seriously when you consider any future support (Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co.),” she said. “The United States will not tolerate anyone who provides support to foreign terrorist organizations, such as the Houthis.”
Trump promised that the terrorist group will be “completely destroyed” and that the US central command has intensified its attacks on Houthi sites in Yemen since its administration has come into office.
The retired vice-admiral John Miller, a former commander of the fifth Navy fleet, said that Chinese communist support for Houthi attacks in the Red Sea is an indication of the new world order that China works hard to create.
“It is an order that only authorizes free world trade for communist China and its attorney,” he said.
“The United States and the free world must work hard to reject this malignant Chinese vision of the world and ensure safe and free access to world commons for all nations.”
Mr. Trump and his administration, however, seem to have moderated their public criticisms towards China despite the current trade war on prices.
The president told journalists on Thursday that he had good relations with Chinese President Xi Jinping and that Beijing had contacted his administration on commercial issues.
“I think we are going to have an agreement with China,” he said. “And if we don’t do it, we will have an agreement anyway because we have set a certain target and that will be it.”
The Pentagon has intensified attacks on Houthi rebels in recent weeks in order to stop the large -scale attacks against shipping to the Red Sea.
The Houthis since October 2023 attacked more than 60 ships with missiles and drones.
The Red Sea is a main shipping route from the Middle East to China for oil shipments. For international freight companies, attacks have forced a lot to transport ships to avoid the sea, taking more time and money.
Diversions have an impact on international trade, according to the Defense Intelligence Agency.
When the shipping attacks began in what rebels say they are the support of Hamas, another terrorist group supported by Iran, in its war with Israel, the United States initially requested Chinese aid to organize an international coalition to protect the expedition and counter the attacks.
China, however, refused and rather sought to reach an arrangement with the Houthis which would end their attacks against Chinese ships, according to American officials with effort.
This arrangement did not last after a Chinese ship was struck last year.
However, providing satellite data used to identify us and other ships in the Red Sea for missile strikes seems to be part of an agreement between Beijing and the Houthis that would end attacks against Chinese expedition.
On Thursday, a large fuel port used by the Houthis to sell oil in support of their operations was attacked by American forces, the US central command announced on Thursday.
“The Houthis supported by Iran use fuel to maintain their military operations, such as a control weapon, and to economically benefit from diverting importation profits,” said command by announcing the attacks.
“Today, American forces have taken measures to eliminate this source of fuel for Houthi terrorists supported by Iran and deprive them of illegal income which have financed Houthi efforts to terrorize the whole region for more than 10 years.”
Houthi sources said dozens of people had been killed in military strikes that the central command had not identified in detail.
Thursday, the administration also imposed sanctions on the International Bank of Yemen, the Treasury Department saying that they aim to interrupt the Houthi attacks against the commercial shipment to the Red Sea
“Financial institutions such as (International Banque of Yemen) are essential to the efforts of the Houthis to access the international financial system and threaten both the region and international trade,” said assistant secretary of the Treasury, Michael Faulkender, in a statement.
The World Food Program has interrupted food products in the Houthi controlled areas and the distribution of suspended food after the rebels have looted a warehouse used to share food, the Associated Press said on Thursday.
Deputy Executive Director of the Food Program, Carl SKAU, said the rebels stole approximately $ 1.6 million in northern warehouses in mid-March.
The suspension of aid is a blow in the country torn by the war where hunger has increased.
A report by the Defense Intelligence of the Defense of February 2024 declared that the force of the Islamic revolution of Iran, the body-Quds, since 2014, had provided the Houthis an increasing arsenal of weapons and sophisticated training, used to attack commercial navigation in the Red Sea and the infrastructures of civil and energy in the region.
Intelligence was based on us and the Allied interception of 18 Iranian smuggling ships in Yemen who seized components of ballistic missiles, drones, anti -drug guided missiles and thousands of assault rifles, rocket components and other illicit weapons on their way to the Houthis between 2015 and 2023.
