Foreign affairs

New Chinese Military Base in Africa Presents Security Concerns for US

China’s first non-domestic military outpost is slated to be finished by the end of the summer, according to Marine General Thomas Waldhauser, who said the base presents security concerns to the US.

The 90-acre naval base is located a mere four miles from the headquarters of US African Command, Camp Lemonnier, in Djibouti, where some 3,000 to 4,000 US personnel are stationed at any given time.

Under Waldhauser’s watch, the US hopes to keep tabs on what China does and does not do at the new base. Waldhauser recently requested an audience with Djibouti President Ismail Omar, to whom he "expressed [US] concerns about some of the things that are important to us about what the Chinese should not do at that location."