China Power | Diplomacy | East Asia

China, Djibouti Express ‘Serious Concern’ Over Threats to Red Sea Shipping

A joint communique ups the diplomatic rhetoric but offers no solutions.

A cargo ship in the Port of Djibouti, 2012.

Djibouti’s Foreign Minister Abdoulkader Houssein Omar is visiting China from October 19 to 25. On October 21, he held a meeting with his counterpart and host, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. According to a spokesperson from China’s Foreign Ministry, “They had an in-depth exchange of views on the Horn of Africa situation and the safety of shipping lanes across the Red Sea.”

The Red Sea is under siege – a major concern for Djibouti, which sits on the Horn of Africa, at the junction between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

For most of 2026, the world has been focused on another crucial waterway: the Strait of Hormuz, a transit route for around one-fourth of all global crude oil shipments and one-fifth of the world’s LNG. Israel and the U.S. began strikes against Iran on February 28; Iran retaliated in part by shutting down shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Traffic through the strait has been constrained ever since.

In response, Saudi Arabia began rerouting some its oil via pipeline to the Red Sea. Saudi oil shipments on this route jumped nearly fivefold, going from 1 million to 4.9 million barrels per day. But new attacks by the Houthis, Iran-backed militants that occupy much of Yemen, are now jeopardizing that shipping. Starting in September, the Houthis began a concerted effort to seize control of the Bab al Mandeb Strait, the body of water between Yemen and Djibouti and a crucial chokepoint for shipping via the Red Sea.

While Yemeni government forces have taken back much of the territory, the threat to shipping remains high. A Washington Post article, citing “Iranian officials and diplomats in the region,” said that Iran saw the weeks before the U.S. midterm elections on November 3 as a “critical window” for weakening U.S. President Donald Trump. Iran is accordingly stepping up attack in the Strait of Hormuz – and may have the Houthis do the same in the Red Sea.

That leaves regional states like Djibouti to reckon with the fallout.

China, as the world’s largest exporter, has a direct stake in the outcome as well. Wang and Omar not only discussed the shipping threat during their talks but issued an entire joint communique on the subject.

Unfortunately, there’s not much new in the document. It serves more as a vehicle for both countries to express their concerns than an attempt to offer concrete solutions.

Djibouti and China agreed that “the recent escalation of tensions in the Red Sea poses a serious threat to the global economy, particularly to economic activities in the Horn of Africa region, including........

© The Diplomat