The Chinese Navy's Djibouti Base: A 'Support Facility' or Something More?
China says its facility in Djibouti will amount to little more than a “support facility.”
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By Ankit Panda
February 27, 2017
Over the weekend, the New York Times took a look at China’s first naval base in Djibouti, which will sit adjacent to the United States’ Camp Lemonnier outpost there. News that China would look to set up its first overseas military outpost in the small but strategically located East African nation came in May 2015, and Beijing broke ground on construction in February 2016. China does not call the facility a “naval base” or even a “military installation,” preferring instead to use the more anodyne formation of a “support facility” for the People’s Liberation Army-Navy.
The thrust of the Times‘ look at China’s upcoming facility in Djibouti is the broader effect it could have on the United States’ presence in the country. Camp Lemonnier has served as an important foreign military installation for the United States since the September 11, 2001 attacks and has supported U.S. covert operations, including targeted drone strikes, in the Middle East.
http://thediplomat.com/2017/02/the-chinese-navys-djibouti-base-a-support-facility-or-something-more/
