At least four China-linked vessels used Iran's described safe shipping corridor through the Strait of Hormuz in a 24-hour period, Anadolu reported from MarineTraffic data, naming the China-flagged crude tanker Yuan Hua Hu, the Starway, Deepblue, and the Xian Jiang Kou. [1]

Sunday's paper said China had offered words on Hormuz, not an escort plan, and Monday's evidence is more practical and more ambiguous because Chinese-linked ships appear to have passed through a corridor before any public rulebook explained who qualifies, who decides, and who is excluded.

Anadolu reports that Yuan Hua Hu was south of Iran's Larak Island, owned by China COSCO Shipping Corporation, and listed an AIS destination as "Chinese owner and crew," while the route was part of a passage Iran has described as safe and permit-based as the Strait remains effectively closed to most vessels. [1]

MSM can write a shipping-tracker story, X will say the Chinese lane proves the real regime, and the paper's narrower conclusion is stronger: behavior is preceding law, leaving the next artifact as a list, notice, denial, or escort mechanism that turns AIS movement into a rule the market can price.

Until then, the ships are evidence of passage rather than policy, and that distinction matters for every owner, insurer, crew, and government trying to decide whether the Strait is closed or selectively open.

-- DAVID CHEN, Beijing