China has dispatched troops to Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, formally establishing its first overseas military base. Two Navy warships left the port of Zhanjiang in China taking a number of military personnel across the Indian Ocean, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
The Djibouti naval base will be used to resupply navy ships taking part in peacekeeping missions, particularly off the Yemen and Somalia coasts. “The base will also be conducive to overseas tasks including military cooperation, joint exercises, evacuating and protecting overseas Chinese and emergency rescue, as well as jointly maintaining security of international strategic seaways,” state news agency Xinhua said on Tuesday.
China has officially called the Djibouti base its “logistics facility” and has not yet announced when the base will formally start operations. The tiny nation also hosts United States, Japanese and French troops.
In the past, Chinese banks have funded at least 14 projects in Djibouti valued at at $14.4 billion (over Rs 90,000 crore) in total. There are at least one million Chinese nations in Africa, most of them employed in infrastructure projects that are backed by Beijing.
India’s worries
Beijing’s increased activity in the Indian Ocean has left New Delhi worried. The Indian Navy has been forced to tighten surveillance of the strategic waters in the last two months after having spotted several Chinese warships.
India is worried that this move is part of Beijing’s strategy to encircle the subcontinent, along with military alliances in Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. To expand its presence in the Indian Ocean, China has been building ports and other infrastructure in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
New Delhi has been opposed to China’s One Belt, One Road initiative to build a new Silk Route, as it includes the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. The project passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, and India worries it will legitimise Islamabad’s claim over the region.
In June, the US Department of Defense, in a report, had said that the naval base “reflects and amplifies China’s growing influence, extending the reach of its armed forces”.
“China is committed to peaceful development,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said on Wednesday, according to AFP. “China’s defence policy is defensive in nature. This has not changed.”
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