NavWeek: China Safari

You wouldn’t necessarily think about turning to a book called, “AFRIQUE, A Warning for America,” to read about the global ambitions of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), but retired Marine and noted military author H. John Poole does a good job of connecting the dots.

“There are now large numbers of Chinese peacekeepers, warfare trainers and military attaches throughout the Dark Continent,” Poole notes. “Peacekeeping may only be the first kind of Chinese military deployment to Africa.”

Poole also points out, “While the U.S. has routinely established military bases throughout the world, the PRC has mostly avoided such activity, except at its immediate periphery – like in Tibet, Kashmir or in South China Sea islands. All of that may be about to change.”

He draws attention to reports China may be ready to create military bases in key spots throughout Africa.

“The PRC has already been invited to build a navy base in the Seychelles Islands, just off the east coast of Africa,” Poole writes. “While China does not claim to want U.S.-style military facilities, it hasn’t ruled out ‘Overseas Strategic Support Bases,” which, he says, can be used to pre-position material for expeditionary ground forces.

“There are distinct similarities between PRC’s official reason for all the infrastructure assistance to Africa and its latest ‘String of Pearls’ fabrication. China has been calling its Spratly Islands land reclamation project a ‘public service,’ whereas her neighbors see only an airfield from which it can enforce a territorial claim over the entire South China Sea.”

Could a globally oriented Chinese military, Poole askes, now view southern Africa as just another frontier province? “If deadly force were appropriate off shore of its mainland, why not in a distant province?”

Further, he says, “Naval bases would be one thing, but the permanent billeting of ground personnel might signal an upsurge to the PRC’s already considerable program of expansion.”