BEIJING – On Sunday, China’s fourth-largest
container shipping company, COSCO,
which contributes to about 11 percent of global trade, announced its decision
to suspend its trips to Israel.
اضافة اعلان
COSCO justified its decision
due to the attacks by
Houthis on ships associated with Israel, Quds Press News
Agency reported.
Israeli newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, and Globes, a website
specializing in the Israeli economy, questioned the motives behind this
decision, pointing out that Beijing “is not threatened much in the
Red Sea just
because it is Chinese… and because of China’s relations with Iran, the sponsor
of the Houthis in Yemen.”
The report published by Globes explained that the
Port of Haifa, on the Mediterranean coast, is also managed by a Chinese company as the
port relies on many COSCO ships that visit it.
The Houthi movement announced that it would target any cargo
ship transporting goods to and from Israel through the Red Sea that is owned or
operated by companies affiliated with Israel, in solidarity with Gaza.
The US Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin, announced on Dec.
18, 2023, the formation of a naval force called “
Operation Prosperity Guardian”, aiming to confront the attacks in the Red Sea. The operation is a
multinational coalition consisting of 10 countries, including Bahrain.
The world’s two largest shipping companies, MSC and Maersk,
have also suspended their commercial trips across the Red Sea since
mid-December last year, rerouting their ships to the Cape of Good Hope.
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