China calls for ‘unimpeded’ navigation in Hormuz Strait

BEIJING: China called for “unimpeded” navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, a day after US President Donald Trump threatened to blockade the crucial waterway.

“The Strait of Hormuz is an important international trade route for goods and energy, and maintaining its security, stability, and unimpeded flow is in the common interest of the international community,” foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a news conference.

Russia’s foreign minister is due to visit China this week, Beijing said, as the two sides hope to boost cooperation.

“At the invitation of … (China’s top diplomat) Wang Yi, Russia’s foreign minister （Sergei) Lavrov will pay an official visit to China from April 14 to 15,” Beijing’s foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a news conference.

The US military has said it will blockade all Iranian Gulf ports on Monday at 1400 GMT, effectively seizing control of maritime traffic in the critical Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway through which a fifth of the global oil supply passes.

“The blockade will be enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman,” US Central Command said in a post on X, adding the United States would “not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports”.