The Houthis immediately broke up the newly formed "coalition" of the United States. Therefore, in order to stabilize the camp, the United States tried to draw China in and increase its own approval rating.
(Ali Housé)
A few days ago, US State Department spokesman Miller once again said in his speech that the Houthi raids on international shipping have not only harmed the countries concerned, but also harmed the interests of the United States, China and every country. Therefore, the US side very much welcomes China's constructive role in preventing these attacks. In addition, Miller also said that he would continue to convey this idea to the Chinese side and ask about China's position on this matter.
In fact, this is not the first time that the US has enlisted China's involvement in this matter. Before the U.S. announced the plan, Blinken mentioned the matter in a phone call with Foreign Minister Wang Yi, but the Chinese side did not relent.
Generally speaking, the US side avoids things that are beneficial to China, let alone take the initiative to pull China into it, so making such efforts to win over China is nothing more than trying to "kidnap" China with the point of "harming China's interests", and finally achieve the goal of using China's strength to escort Israel's actions in the Middle East.
However, before the Chinese side could respond, the Houthis immediately stood up and refuted the US side's remarks.
(U.S. State Department Spokesperson Miller)
Recently, Houthi member Ali Houthi responded to Miller's remarks in an interview, Ali Houthi said that the so-called Houthi actions will cause "China's economy to suffer a negative impact", which is just a one-sided statement by the United States, before which the Houthis have explained the Houthi position to China and all Arab countries, that is, as long as they do not participate in the multinational force formed by the United States, ships do not sail to Israeli ports, the Houthis will not attack, and their security and interests can be guaranteed.
It can be seen from this that the US argument is completely untenable. And in this matter, we are also very clear that the so-called "maritime alliance" of the US side is only trying to escalate the Red Sea crisis, which is completely inconsistent with China's position, so China has no reason to join the US camp.
In addition, another important reason why the United States has worked so hard to persuade China is that one of the special skills of the Houthis is too much of a headache for the United States.
As we all know, the Houthis came from one of the poorest countries in the world, and their family background determines that they are a veritable "slipper soldiers". At the beginning of the army, they did not have uniform and weapons, and the soldiers wore slippers when they trained. Even today, Houthi spokesmen sit on motorcycles in slippers when they leave work after speeches.
But as the old saying goes, those who are barefoot are not afraid of wearing shoes, and those who wear slippers to fight will really dare to fight the US military, which is known as the "world's first".
(Houthi spokesperson wears slippers to work)
Judging from past experience, the weapons used by the Houthis are relatively backward, and most of them are missiles, but he has a lot of experience in actual combat, and as long as the opponents are within the range of the Houthi missiles, the Houthis have fought them one by one. Before there were no peace talks with Saudi Arabia, the Houthis would throw a few missiles at Saudi Arabia every once in a while, and they would dare to bomb military camps, oil refineries, airports and even royal palaces. In addition, the United Arab Emirates and the United States have also been targeted by the Houthis.
In this context, the Houthis have set a number of world records, such as the most missile launches, the largest number of destroyed tanks, the largest number of sunk warships, and the use of missiles to hit moving ships. And "using missiles to hit moving ships" is a special skill unique to the Houthis.
The missiles used by the Houthis are all old Scud missiles, and they modified these old missiles and replaced them with Soviet-made S75 launchers, so that they can accurately hit moving ships, which not only saves costs, but also improves combat effectiveness. And if the United States wants to intercept missiles, the cost will be very large.
According to U.S. Department of Defense officials, in the past two months, U.S. Navy destroyers have shot down a total of 38 drones and multiple missiles in the Red Sea, effectively stopping the Houthi attacks, but there is a serious problem, that is, the United States is currently intercepting a drone, using naval missiles, and the cost of each launch is as high as 2.1 million US dollars, compared with a Houthi drone is only a few thousand dollars, so as long as the US military shoots, it will cause thousands of times the loss.
In addition, because there is a gap in cost, the speed of supply is also different, and the amount of ammunition available for US warships is limited, but the supply of drones by the Houthis can be completed in a short time. Perhaps it is precisely because of these two points that the Houthis are very confident to say to the US that "it will make it pay a more painful price than the Vietnam War and the Afghanistan War".
(The United States said more than 20 countries had joined the joint operation)
In short, poverty is the Houthi's shortcoming, but in the confrontation with the United States, this is also the Houthi's greatest strength. And the US side is now trying to drag people to form an alliance, that is, it wants to share the economic losses.
Now, according to the US side, a total of more than 20 countries have joined the "Red Sea Alliance", but these countries in the previous US list have all stood up and denied it one by one, the French side said that the operation was under its own command, and Italy also absolved itself of responsibility, saying that the reason why the navy went to the Red Sea had nothing to do with the United States, and Spain made it clear that it would not get involved with the United States. Therefore, whether this matter can be done or not is a big question mark.
Finally, the US side should also understand that a hard-nosed confrontation with the Houthis will only allow the flames of war to spill over again and exacerbate tensions in the Middle East, and if it really intends to maintain peace, the US should stop its solidarity with Israel as soon as possible and facilitate a ceasefire between Palestine and Israel as soon as possible.