Beijing announces naval drills in East China Sea on March 12-14 The Chinese People's Liberation Army's #Navy is holding drills in the #East China Sea on March 12-14, according to a statement published on the website of China’s Maritime Safety Administration. The brief statement says that the exercise is taking place along the coast of China’s eastern province of Zhejiang, where a temporary navigation ban has been imposed. The drills are being held from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. local time (from 12:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. GMT) on March 12-14. No information is available about the forces and equipment involved in the drills. However, the statement says that the exercise will include live firing.

#China presses #Iran to rein in #Houthi attacks in #Red_Sea Chinese officials have asked their Iranian counterparts to help rein in attacks on ships in the Red Sea by the Iran-backed Houthis, or risk harming business relations with Beijing, four Iranian sources and a diplomat familiar with the matter said. The discussions about the attacks and trade between China and Iran took place at several recent meetings in Beijing and Tehran, the Iranian sources said, declining to provide details about when they took place or who attended. "Basically, China says: 'If our interests are harmed in any way, it will impact our business with Tehran. So tell the Houthis to show restraint'," said one Iranian official briefed on the talks, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. The attacks, which the Houthis say are in support of Palestinians in Gaza, have raised the cost of shipping and insurance by disrupting a key trade route between Asia and Europe used widely by ships from China. The Chinese officials, however, did not make any specific comments or threats about how Beijing's trading relationship with Iran could be affected if its interests were damaged by Houthi attacks, the four Iranian sources said. While China has been Iran's biggest trading partner for the past decade, their trade relationship is lopsided. Chinese oil refiners, for example, bought over 90% of Iran's crude exports last year, according to tanker tracking data from trade analytics firm Kepler, as U.S. sanctions kept many other customers away and Chinese firms profited from heavy discounts.