Foreign Minister Afrah al-Zouba delivers al-Alimi message to Chinese embassy
Yemen Herald News 
ADEN, Yemen — Yemen’s foreign minister handed a written message from Rashad al-Alimi to China’s embassy on Thursday for delivery to President Xi Jinping.
Foreign Minister Afrah al-Zouba gave the message to the chargé d’affaires at the Chinese embassy to Yemen, the state news agency Saba reported.
Al-Alimi chairs the Presidential Leadership Council, the body that has headed the internationally recognised government since April 2022.
The message dealt with relations between the two countries, ways to widen cooperation and issues of mutual interest, according to Saba.
This account rests on Saba, the news agency of the internationally recognised government. Yemen Herald found no independent confirmation of the meeting.
Al-Zouba and the Chinese diplomat discussed developments in Yemen and the region, Saba said.
They discussed Houthi attacks on civilians, on civilian facilities and on international navigation, according to the agency.
They also discussed support for Yemeni state institutions and the implementation of international resolutions, Saba said.
The agency did not name the Chinese diplomat who received the message.
China’s chargé d’affaires to Yemen is Shao Zheng, who set out Beijing’s position in an interview published by Asharq Al-Awsat on 19 October.
China withdrew its diplomats from Sanaa in 2015, Shao said. Its embassy to Yemen now operates from Riyadh.
He rejected as baseless reports that Chinese companies had supplied equipment or components linked to Houthi missile programmes.
China controls exports of dual-use goods tightly and complies with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2216, he said.
Shao said Beijing would receive any information the Yemeni government provided and would investigate it.
He urged the Houthis to stop military action and return to dialogue.
Asked whether China maintains contact with the Houthis, Shao stressed Beijing’s support for the internationally recognised government rather than answering directly, Asharq Al-Awsat reported.
Shao said China supports Yemen’s sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity, and backs the Presidential Leadership Council and the government.
Beijing will continue to press for a political settlement, a position it has set out at the Security Council, he said.
Yemen and China marked the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations on 24 September, Yemen Monitor reported.
The two states established ties in 1956 at minister-plenipotentiary level and upgraded them to ambassadorial level in 1963, according to the same report.
China hosted Yemen’s interior minister for ten days of talks on public security cooperation, Shao told Asharq Al-Awsat.
About ten Yemeni government officials were due to visit China later in October, he said.
Beijing signed a development assistance agreement with Yemen earlier this year that included a grant of 50 million yuan, according to the interview.
China has announced zero tariffs on all Yemeni exports, Shao said.
About 6,500 Yemeni students are studying in China, he said. About ten students from the University of Aden and other universities visited the country last month.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi sent al-Zouba a congratulatory message after her appointment, Yemen’s foreign ministry said on 11 August.
Wang cited what he called the deep-rooted friendship between the two countries and said he was ready to coordinate closely with her.
Wang said he was pleased with the continued growth of ties between the two countries and noted that 2026 marks the 70th anniversary of relations.
Al-Zouba was appointed on 23 July, Al Jazeera reported. She is the first woman to hold the post or any of Yemen’s most prominent cabinet positions.
She is from al-Bayda in central Yemen. She trained as a pharmacist at Sanaa University and later took a master’s degree in community health and health economics in Malaysia and an MBA at the University of Science and Technology in Yemen.
Al-Zouba worked for the organisation SOUL for Development on poverty reduction and rural health and education, and then for USAID on governance and conflict mitigation, according to Al Jazeera.
She served as first deputy secretary-general of the National Dialogue Conference between 2013 and 2015 and sat on the Constitution Drafting Committee.
She took part in UN-invited consultations in Kuwait connected to the peace process in 2016 and 2017.
Al-Zouba advised then-Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik on humanitarian relief and development in 2019.
She became executive director of the Executive Bureau for Accelerating Aid Absorption and Supporting Policy Reforms in 2021, and minister for planning and international cooperation in February.
Critics have questioned whether she has enough diplomatic experience for the role, Al Jazeera reported.
Al Jazeera reported that she would be expected to present the government’s case in the wider region, to Western states and at the United Nations.
The outlet described the government’s broader goals as uniting anti-Houthi forces under one command and restoring state control across the country.
The Houthis hold Sanaa and much of northern Yemen. The internationally recognised government is based in Aden.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in its 2026 plan that more than 22 million people in Yemen need assistance.
The plan put the number of acutely food insecure at 18.3 million and counted 5.2 million internally displaced people.
The movement began attacking ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in late 2023. Many operators rerouted vessels around southern Africa.
Xi met al-Alimi in Riyadh in December 2022, according to China’s foreign ministry.
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