Hands off is better than actively supporting Israel I guess.
China is in the same place as all the other post-industrial nations wrt the Suez Canal. They need to play nice with everyone in the region to keep trade flowing. The Chinese policy response to every conflict in the region is to be diplomatic and remain unaligned so that when this finally burns itself out they won't be on the wrong side.
But they're also a major trade partner with Israel too right?
Israel de facto controls the Suez. They've got a knife to the neck of Israel and a gun pointed at Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq. That's what gives them so much clout in the region.
Since the Chinese have their eyes on the development of Western Africa and the Red Sea is a vital trade corridor into Europe and the more densely populated areas of the Middle East, they're functionally in bed with Israel whether they want to be or not. In that light, the Houthis closing the canal fuck them as much as anyone.
But unlike the dipshits at the Pentagon, Chinese officials are continuing to pursue a non-confrontational strategy of deescalation.
"You guys ready to talk about ratcheting down the tensions in the Taiwanese straight?"
"NO PEACE WITH TAIWAN! ONLY WAR WITH YEMEN!"
"
If Wokism did not exist, we'd have to create it, Jack.
It is, largely, because they are bombarded with this message. And they're bombarded with the message because the national leadership needs to win the consent of the governed in order to pivot to a hostile stance against the nation's largest trading partner.
The China-hate wasn't anywhere near this bad 20 years ago. And nothing between our two countries can really explain it outside of the geopolitical need to engage with their nation as hostile.
Okay, but why China and why now? We could be doing this same dance with Japan or Indonesia or Brazil or India just as easily. If anything, it would be easier because it is true. This is a purely arbitrary move by a handful of PNAC goons who see Big China Line Go Up and fear what their GDP eclipsing ours means for the future.
The China Hate is purely a consequence of the international dick measuring contest run out of DC. It doesn't have anything to do with the lay American's self-perception.