Q: Hey, Sabrina, are you all seeing any additional action from the Houthis in the Indian Ocean? That was a big threat that they had made in the last couple of weeks that they were going to be expanding operations to threaten merchant shipping out there?
And then, have you all had any determination about whether the strike on the Chinese ship by the Houthis was intentional or an accident? Thanks.
MS. SINGH: Thanks, Sam for the question. In terms of expanding Houthi operations into the – into the Indian Ocean, I would direct you to them to speak to that. We have seen mainly their efforts focused into the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and that – that BAM area.
But again, we continue to monitor the threats from the Houthis. You’ve seen us conduct dynamic strikes when it comes to seeing their capabilities present themselves. You saw – we’ve done that – you know, pretty much on a consistent basis. But again, I would direct you to the Houthis to speak to any change in their posture or operations.
In terms of the PRC ship, you know, I can’t – I can’t say that they knew or didn’t know that that was a Chinese ship or flagged. What I can say is that we saw very publicly that they’ve said that they were not going to attack PRC or Russian ships and yet, they did.
So just another reminder that we have more than 50 countries with equities that continue to transit through the Red Sea. We see, you know, a significant amount of commerce that continues to flow through the Red Sea. This is an incredibly important passageway for ships and for commerce. And through Operation Prosperity Guardian, we continue to stand by and uphold the freedom of navigation. You see that being done almost every single day. And we’re very proud of our efforts there.
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Source: U.S. Department of Defense
Author: Sabrina Singh, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary
Format: Press Briefing
China Policy Research 