The UAE has sent Chinese experts to the occupied Yemeni island of Socotra, on a visit described of which the purposes is reported as “unknown”, local sources reported on Friday.
The sources stated that six people of Chinese nationality arrived during the past hours of Friday through a UAE travel agency to the port of Hulaf, under the pretext of tourism and recreation on the island.
According to the source, the Chinese delegation set off from the Emirati city of Dubai, without mentioning the reasons for bringing them to the island, except that they are “businessmen.”
This came after a ship chartered by the “Khalifa Foundation”, the UAE intelligence arm on the island, unloaded an unknown shipment amid tight security in the port of Hulaf in mid-October, coming from Dubai.
The UAE has taken the port of Hulaf in Socotra as a center to carry out intelligence activity, as part of the suspicious movements since 2016 under the banner of “humanitarian work” on the island.
In partnership with the Israeli Navy, the UAE has established a military base and centers for espionage and maritime surveillance in various areas of Socotra, located in the Indian Ocean, under the pretext of confronting Iranian threats.
