Cameron to lobby China over Red Sea
LORD CAMERON has said he is planning to lobby China to take a tougher stance on Houthi attacks in the Red Sea in his first meeting with Beijing as Foreign Secretary.
Lord Cameron said he would be piling pressure on Chinese counterparts to support “freedom of navigation” in the region, where Iran-backed rebels have been targeting Western ships with missiles and drones in retaliation for Israeli military action in the Gaza strip.
China has claimed it has been making active efforts to ease tensions in the Red Sea from the start, with reports suggesting it has urged Iran, with which it has a close trading relationship, to help rein in Houthi attacks in recent weeks.
But it has been accused of seeking to protect its own interests, rather than pushing for a full de-escalation. Last month, the Houthis said Chinese and Russian ships would get safe passage, while others were forced to re-route.
Taking questions from peers yesterday, Lord Cameron said he would urge China to do more to promote freedom of navigation in talks in the coming days.
“One of the things we’re doing more generally is stressing the importance of the freedom of navigation, that lies behind the action that we’re taking in the Red Sea,” he said.
“And I’m going to be hopefully holding some discussions with Chinese counterparts in days to come, where I think we’ll be asking them, given the importance of trade to China, that they should be as fully supportive of freedom of navigation as we are, because that matters wherever you are in the world, including the Taiwan Straits.”