Beijing said Tuesday that the Chinese ship carrying arms originally bound for Zimbabwe may return to China because of the difficulties in delivering the goods.
Jiang Yu, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said at a regular press briefing in Beijing that the shipment was part of normal military trade between Zimbabwe and China and called on other nations not to politicize the issue.
She added that the trade contract was signed last year and irrelevant to Zimbabwe's recent domestic situation.
Jiang told the press conference that COSCO had to give up the original plan to unload in South Africa's Durban port and was considering shipping the cargo back China, due to Zimbabwe's inability to receive the goods. She noted that it was a common practice in international trade to transport goods to inland African countries through the Durban port.
Jiang reiterated China's prudent and responsible attitude towards arms trade, adding that the country always strictly abided by the principle of non-interference with a receiving country's sovereignty.
Jiang stressed China exported much less weapons to other countries in comparison to some developed countries.
According to the latest statistics by the Sweden-based Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, China ranked 10th on the list of the world's biggest arms exporters. The United States ranked first and the United Kingdom sixth.
The statistics revealed the United States accounted for 30 percent of world arms trade volume while China was two percent.