On Tuesday, during a vote in the UN Security Council, China and Russia vetoed a Bahrain resolution encouraging countries to coordinate actions to protect commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
The 15-member Security Council voted 11 for the resolution, with two against – China and Russia – and two abstentions (Pakistan and Colombia).
“The draft resolution was not adopted due to the negative vote of a permanent member of the Council,” Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani informed the Council.
The draft resolution encouraged defensive, coordinated action to secure the Strait of Hormuz.
After weeks of negotiations, the draft was watered down from its initial Chapter VII (authorizing the use of military force) by removing Chapter VII but authorizing “the use of all necessary defensive measures”, to ultimately strongly encouraging defensive action.
The meeting was chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain. Speaking before the vote, he told Council members that the draft does not create a new reality but is a serious response to Iran's repeated hostile behavior that must be put to an end.
He said the Security Council's failure to respond to the use of the key waterway as a pressure tool would have serious consequences for the world and could be repeated in other straits and waterways, turning the world into a jungle, the BBC quoted.
The BBC notes that China is among the countries that can still use the strait, while Russia could benefit from an easing of oil sanctions in response to its closure
Source: CNN, Reuters
