China on Thursday warned against the spread of the Middle East conflict into the Horn of Africa, stressing that the northeastern African region should “never become an arena for geopolitics.”
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said this position was agreed between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Djibouti’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Abdoulkader Houssein Omar during a meeting in Beijing a day earlier.
The two officials had an “in-depth exchange of views on the Horn of Africa situation and the safety of shipping lanes across the Red Sea,” Mao said.
They “agreed that the recent escalation of tensions in the Red Sea has posed a serious threat to the global economy, especially the economic activities of regional countries in the Horn of Africa and exacerbated security challenges such as piracy and terrorism.”
As further spillover of regional tensions into the Red Sea “is in no one’s interest,” Mao said the two sides called on “relevant parties to observe the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, abide by the basic norms of international relations and avoid escalating tensions in the region through diplomatic means including dialogue.”
“Both sides agreed that the Horn of Africa should never become an arena for geopolitics and the Middle East conflict should not spread to the Horn of Africa,” she added.
Mao said Wang and Omar attach “great importance to the freedom of navigation across the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb Strait and stress that the right of navigation that the commercial ships from all countries are entitled to under international law should be respected.”
They said easing the Middle East situation “is the key to settling security challenges in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea” and reaffirmed support for restoring the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people.
“The ceasefire agreement (in Gaza) should be upheld, continued efforts should be made for lasting peace in Gaza,” they said, emphasizing implementation of the two-state solution as outlined in relevant UN resolutions.
