DOMINANT ANGLE
Bucharest is deciphering China's behind-the-scenes mediation in the face of the Houthi advance, more than the air alert over Riyadh itself.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
China has privately asked Iran to help contain the Houthis, after a direct call from Riyadh to Beijing, according to three Iranian sources cited by Reuters (Digi24, Mediafax).
- 02
China bought more than 80% of Iran's maritime oil exports in 2025, and its trade with the Gulf Cooperation Council totals around $300 billion per year (Mediafax).
- 03
The Houthis claim to have shot down a Saudi F-15 over Marib with a local surface-to-air missile and claim around 450 Saudi strikes this week (Digi24).
ANALYSIS
Bucharest, September 19, 2026. The Romanian press first notes Beijing's discreet maneuver rather than the air alert over Riyadh itself. According to Digi24 and Mediafax, which both cite three Iranian sources reported by Reuters, China privately asked Tehran to help slow the advance of the Houthi rebels, after a direct call from Saudi Arabia to Beijing. Publicly, Chinese diplomacy is sticking to a language of restraint and dialogue; behind the scenes, the message to Tehran would have gone further, according to the cited sources.
The trigger for this informal mediation: the rapid advance of the Houthi rebels along the Red Sea coast and around the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which directly exposes Saudi oil exports and maritime traffic - a vital axis for Beijing, which in 2025 bought more than 80% of Iran's maritime oil exports and whose exchanges with the Gulf Cooperation Council amount to nearly $300 billion per year, Mediafax recalls.
Tehran's response, relayed by the two outlets, places the responsibility elsewhere: regional stability, Iran responds, depends on the end of "the war waged by the United States and Israel against Iran." The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for its part, published a statement calling for restraint, cited by Mediafax: "The escalation of regional instability serves the interests of no party. The sovereignty and security of all countries must be respected."
On the ground, Digi24 reports that the Houthi rebels claim to have shot down a Saudi F-15 over the province of Marib, using a locally made surface-to-air missile, and have released a video of the plane in flames. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claims around 450 Saudi strikes this week, while Riyadh accuses the movement of targeting Mecca with a drone on Wednesday - an accusation denied by the Houthi rebels, who claim to only target "oil installations and military bases, far from holy sites."
The Romanian press, relying almost exclusively on Reuters and AFP dispatches, thus paints a picture of a crisis where mediation is taking place through discreet - Chinese - channels rather than visible Western intervention.
