China has said it helped 10
countries evacuate 225 of their citizens from Yemen, where
Iran-allied rebels have seized the two main cities, the first
Beijing has assisted in the evacuation of foreign nationals
during an international crisis.
A Chinese missile frigate carried the foreign nationals from
the Port of Aden, bound for Djibouti, on Thursday afternoon, the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on its website
late Thursday.
Violence has been spreading across Yemen since last year,
when Shi'ite Houthi fighters seized the capital, Sanaa, and
effectively removed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. A
Saudi-led coalition has hit the rebels with air strikes over the
past week.
The ministry said the countries - Pakistan, Ethiopia,
Singapore, Italy, Germany, Poland, Ireland, Britain, Canada and
Yemen - requested China's help with the evacuation.
China had earlier evacuated 571 of its own nationals, along
with eight foreigners who worked for Chinese companies.
Once-reclusive China has become increasingly active in
disaster relief and humanitarian aid abroad as its global
economic interests widen.
"China has been keen to learn from the experience of other
countries on how to evacuate people, especially after Libya,"
said one senior Western diplomat in Beijing. "It's good to see
China taking more of an interest in this."
A low-key diplomatic player in the Middle East despite its
reliance on oil from the region, China has voiced concern at the
surge in violence in Yemen and called for a political solution.
Beijing drew international praise last year when it sent
elite troops to help Ebola-hit Liberia by building a treatment center and help transport medical supplies.
China also sent a state-of-the-art hospital ship to the
Philippines in 2013 after one of the world's biggest typhoons
killed thousands.
REUTERS