China's Military Base in Djabouti

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Chinese Naval Base in Djibouti

Djibouti is home to more foreign bases than any other country, including Japan & China's only foreign military bases & USA's only base in Africa.

 

The full list is: US, France, Italy, Japan, and recently Saudi Arabia and China

 

 

Negotiations for China to create a strategic base in Djibouti began with President Ismail Omar Guelleh in approximately 2015. Negotiations were concluded in January 2016, with China and Djibouti having "reached consensus" on the construction of naval facilities.

 

On July 11, 2017, the People’s Liberation Army Navy dispatched ships from the South Sea Fleet in Zhanjiang to open the base officially.

 

U.S. diplomats and generals have grown increasingly concerned that the base will provide China a foothold at the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a strategic chokepoint in international maritime trade....

 

I know that this obsession with the Chinese presence exists. But it is both unfounded and one-sided. The Chinese have no problem cohabiting with Westerners in Djibouti, provided they do not come constantly spy on their facilities.

 

Americans, on the other hand, make a fixation. They tell us again and again that this Chinese presence hinders their operations. In fact, the Chinese base under construction at Doraleh, which adjoins the new wharf and the new free zone, will not shelter more than four hundred men. - Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, President of Djabouti [source]

 

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