CAIRO, January 14. /TASS/. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is visiting Egypt, has called for respecting Yemen’s sovereignty and refraining from adding oil to the flame amid the current situation in the Middle East.

"It is necessary to respect the sovereignty of Yemen and other countries which have access to the Red Sea. It is necessary to stop pouring oil on flames," the Al-Ahram newspaper quoted him as saying. "We are following the situation in the Red Sea with concern."

According to the top Chinese diplomat, his country rejects the use of military force against Yemen. "The international community has never let any state deliver strikes on Yemen," he noted, adding that the recent developments in the Red Sea stem from the aggravation of the situation in the Gaza Strip and threaten the entire world order.

On the night of January 12, the United States and the United Kingdom delivered air strikes on rebel-held positions in several Yemeni cities, using aircraft, warships and submarines. US President Joe Biden said the military action was ordered in response to "unprecedented Houthi attacks" on shipping in the Red Sea and that the strikes were delivered in self-defense.

Following the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis warned that they would launch strikes on Israeli territory while barring ships associated with the Jewish state from passing through the waters of the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait until Tel Aviv ceased its military operation against Palestinian radical group Hamas in the embattled enclave. According to the US Defense Department’s Central Command’s (CENTCOM) estimates, the Yemeni rebel group has attacked more than 20 vessels and civilian ships in the Red Sea since mid-November.