THE “I’M TURNING CHINESE” viral trend on TikTok is being used by ships trapped in the Gulf by the US-Israel war on Iran, reports said today.
“At least 10 ships over the past week have altered their destination signal to read ‘Chinese Owner’, ‘All Chinese Crew’ or ‘Chinese Crew Onboard’,” the Financial Times reported, quoting data from MarineTraffic, a data site.
Some ships are deliberately disabling their GPS systems or switching to China’s Beidou system.
.
MAIDEN MAKES IT
The ships with the fake flags may be following the lead of the Iron Maiden. This ship changed its signal to “China Owner” and then successfully transited the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday before turning off the false signal.
Numerous ships tried the same trick last year, when the Houthis of Yemen attacked western ships delivering weapons or other goods to Israel.
But most vessels are staying put – too scared to risk transiting a narrow strait during a war in which all sides have a less than perfect record in accurately targeting missiles.
Meanwhile, China is in talks with Iran at the moment to discuss shipping matters, Reuters reported today.
.
TROUBLE STARTING
The US-Israel war on Iran has been declared “manifestly illegal” by legal professors around the world, and analysts fear that unintended consequences will make a significant dent in economic growth worldwide.
The problems have already begun. Some 1,000 ships are trapped in the Gulf, Lloyd’s Market Association, a shipping specialist group, said.
South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, and other nations, are actively trying to cut energy usage, as their power plants run on West Asian oil.
Ships are pretending to be Chinese to get through the Straits of Hormuz
