Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels are attempting to build a new advanced medium-range ballistic missile system with the help of Chinese parts, according to a new report released Wednesday by a group that tracks the use of weapons in conflict zones.
The report by the U.K.-based Conflict Armament Research group came as the Houthis, in their ongoing war with Saudi Arabia, are demonstrating remarkable ability to wreak havoc on one of the Middle East’s best equipped militaries.
The weaponry under development could help the group more precisely target the Saudis and Israel. By turning to China, it also appears to be a sign of increasing independence.
True, but China may not be asking for money or anything else in return. The Houthis are acting as a proxy army against the US, and that’s probably all that the PRC really needs or cares about getting from them.
This is nothing new, the US did the same thing in Afghanistan against the USSR in the 1980s, and tried to do it in Somalia in the 1990s.
The UK did it everywhere.
China is just playing the same big-boy international power politics that every other imperialist nation has done in the Middle East since the Romans.
Nothing will change for the Middle East until everyone there starts rejecting foreign influence as a matter of course.
They don’t even care if the Houthis win (given their treatment of Muslims in general they probably hope they lose), they just need the US to lose.
Exactly correct.
Right now China is supplying military hardware to the Houthis, Iran and Russia (at least). We know they aren’t charging much for the war material. The PRC doesn’t care about the outcome of any of those conflicts, but the impact they’re having on the US, the US’s relationship with its allies, the stability of NATO, the security of Europe… all of that benefits China.
Even if there is no drastic collapse anywhere, even if the end result is that Western nations pull together and develop stronger relationships, China has forced its international rivals to expend extra resources and effort on military assets (as non-US NATO countries and the EU are currently doing), and to react defensively, while appearing to not be directly involved in any of the conflicts themselves. It’s very intentional, it’s a proven effective strategy, it will probably work out well for them.