Ships passing through the Gulf have begun declaring themselves as Chinese-owned or Chinese-crewed in an attempt to avoid Iranian attacks during the ongoing war. At least 10 vessels over the past week altered their Automatic Identification System (AIS) signals to display messages such as “Chinese Owner", “All Chinese Crew" or “Chinese Crew Onboard", states a Financial Times report.
The tactic was reported after analysis of MarineTraffic data and was first highlighted by the Financial Times.
If they’re civilian vessels, not really. But it’s not necessarily a lie, the article doesn’t say whether the vessels are actually Chinese owned/operated/crewed or not.