China to Build Military Base in Djibouti to Help Fighting Sea Piracy

People's Daily Online

By Shen Chen (People's Daily Online) 05:31, December 08, 2015

The Chinese government has confirmed the negotiations with Djibouti's government for the construction of a new military base there. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said in late November that the base will be used to provide supplies for Chinese warships on escort missions in the Gulf of Aden.

The move is considered by leading British experts to conducive the international war on sea piracy.

Djibouti is a good choice for a Chinese military base as there are French, U.S., and Japanese naval forces stationed there, Alex Vines, a co-director at Coventry University's African Studies Center told Sputnick News on Monday.

Ian Taylor, an international relations and political economy professor at the University of St. Andrews, agreed on this point, saying that the appearance of a Chinese military base would bring no objections from the Western partners and could have even been agreed with them.

"Djibouti is a puppet state of France. Moreover, there is a big U.S. airbase there, so Paris and Washington are obviously not very much worried about the appearance of a Chinese base in that country," said Ian Taylor during an interview with Sputnick News.