Africa

AWP

SOF Support
Joined
Sep 8, 2006
Messages
18,937
Location
Florida
We have a thread on Afghanistan and one on the Iraq/ ISIS/ Syria fight, so I thought I'd start one on a hot but little know series of topics in Africa (piracy, terrorism, etc.). First up, Chinese expansion near an existing US base.

China sends troops to Djibouti, establishes first overseas military base - CNN.com

(CNN) China has dispatched troops to Djibouti in advance of formally establishing the country's first overseas military base.

"Certainly this is the People's Liberation Army's first overseas base and we will base troops there. It's not a commercial resupply point... This base can support Chinese Navy to go farther, so it means a lot," said the paper.

The Global Times said the main role of the base would be to support Chinese warships operating in the region in anti-piracy and humanitarian operations.

"China has been deploying naval ships to waters off Somalia in the Gulf of Aden to conduct escorting missions since 2008," said Geng. "The completion and operation of the base will help China better fulfill its international obligations in conducting escorting missions and humanitarian assistance ... It will also help promote economic and social development in Djibouti."

China has expanded its military ties across Africa in recent years. According to a report by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), cooperation with Africa on peace and security is now an "explicit part of Beijing's foreign policy."

In 2015 Chinese President Xi Jinping committed 8,000 troops to the UN peacekeeping standby force — one fifth of the 40,000 total troops committed by 50 nations — China also pledged $100 million to the African Union standby force and $1 billion to establish the UN Peace and Development Trust Fund.

While it has long operated in the area, this gives China a major support/ ISR hub in the region.
 
China's ridiculous level of investment and lending to the developing world will provide them with major dividends on the world stage in the next 10-15 years which the US won't see because ya know "I want it now" and all that jazz.
 
China tends to piss off the locals buy bringing Chinese workers in and leaving the host nation with a sub-standard product when they leave.

We need to watch them, because eventually we will have a conflict with China, but they will implode over the long haul.
 
I don't know where you're getting that from sir. Everything that I've read suggests that the African's like the Chinese specifically because they use African workers when they can. One of the reasons that they are going abroad is because the Chinese wage is rising. Also, they are investing in actual infrastructure projects like roads and what not that no one else wants to invest in.

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/chinas-investments-in-africa-whats-the-realstory/

https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/03/why-the-china-model-isnt-goingaway/274237/

5 Myths About Chinese Investment in Africaafrica/

Chen, Wenjie, David Dollar, and Heiwai Tang. Why is China Investing in Africa? Washington D.C.: Brookings Institute, 2015.
 
The PLA openly setting up in Djibouti is interesting not because the PLA is getting involved on foreign soil--which it has done covertly for years in concert with the Ministry of State Security and various overt PRC business and diplomatic interests--but because it's doing so publicly. That's surprising but illuminating. It's Cinderella formally coming to the ball and not trying to sneak in through the kitchen door.

The past MO for foreign activities has been rather low key, with PRC military, diplomatic, business and espionage interests in foreign locales--like Africa and Central and South America--focused on mutually supportive if not interchangeable policy-driven objectives. In other words, if you're dealing with Chinese business representatives chances are you're also dealing at the same time with the MSS, PLA military intelligence and the Chinese government but you can't be sure who it is exactly that you're talking to. All of them at once most likely.

The PRC has many interests in Panama, at both ends of the canal. Now an open military presence at the mouth of the Red Sea near the Gulf of Suez.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top