The People's Liberation Army Support Base in Djibouti is a

military base A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...

operated by China's

People's Liberation Army Navy The People's Liberation Army Navy, also known as the People's Navy, PLA Navy or simply Chinese Navy, is the naval warfare military branch, branch of the People's Liberation Army, the national military of the People's Republic of China. It i ...

(PLAN), located in

Djibouti Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area ...

in the

Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...

. It is the PLAN's first overseas military base and was built at a cost of . The facility is expected to significantly increase China's

power projection Power projection (or force projection or strength projection) in international relations is the capacity of a state to deploy and sustain forces outside its territory. The ability of a state to project its power into an area may serve as an eff ...

in the

and the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

, as well as the PLAN's blue water capabilities. The People's Liberation Army Navy has used the base to conduct anti-piracy operations off of the coast of

and around the

. It is also expected to take part in activities such as intelligence collection, non-combat evacuation operations, peacekeeping operations support and counterterrorism. As of 2017, the base commander is Liang Yang. Djibouti is strategically situated by the

Bab-el-Mandeb The Bab-el-Mandeb (), the Gate of Grief or the Gate of Tears, is a strait between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula and Djibouti and Eritrea in the Horn of Africa. It connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and by extension the Indian Ocean. ...

Strait, which separates the

Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden (; ) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channel, the Socotra Archipelago, Puntland in Somalia and Somaliland to the south. ...

from the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

and guards the approaches to the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...

. The Chinese base is located by the Chinese-operated Port of Doraleh to the west of

Djibouti City Djibouti (also called Djibouti City and Jibuti in early Western texts) is the capital city of the Djibouti, Republic of Djibouti. It is located in the coastal Djibouti Region on the Gulf of Tadjoura. Djibouti has a population of around 780,000 ...

. To the south of the city are several other foreign military bases, including

Camp Lemonnier Camp Lemonnier is a United States Naval Expeditionary Base, situated next to Djibouti–Ambouli International Airport in Djibouti City, and home to the Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). ...

(

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

), Base Aérienne 188 (French Air Force), and the Japan Self-Defense Force Base Djibouti.

History

Negotiations for China to create a strategic base in Djibouti began with President

Ismaïl Omar Guelleh Ismaïl Omar Guelleh (; ; born 27 November 1947) is a Djiboutian politician who has served as the President of Djibouti since 1999, making him one of the longest-serving rulers in Africa. He is often referred to by his initials, IOG. Guelleh wa ...

in approximately 2015. Negotiations were concluded in January 2016, with China and Djibouti having "reached consensus" on the construction of naval facilities, and in March 2016, construction of the naval base began. On July 11, 2017, the People's Liberation Army Navy dispatched ships from the

South Sea Fleet The Southern Theater Command Navy (STCN), or the South Sea Fleet (SSF) until 2018, is a formation of China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and the naval component of the Southern Theater Command. History In December 1949, the Fourth Fi ...

Zhanjiang Zhanjiang; Leizhou Min: ''Tchiàm-kōng''; previously Tsamkong or Guangzhouwan, then romanized in English as Kwangchowan or Kwangchow Wan. is a port city on the southwestern panhandle of Guangdong province in South China. The prefecture- ...

to open the base officially. The base was formally opened on August 1, 2017. The first

live fire exercise A live fire exercise (LFX) is a military exercise in which live ammunition and ordnance is used, as opposed to blanks or dummies. The term can also be found in non-military usage. Military Militaries usually use live-fire exercises as an op ...

s were conducted on September 22, 2017. Around May 2018, China began constructing a large-scale pier (over 330 meters in length or 1,120 feet) at the base, and appeared to be fully completed after 18 months from a satellite photo taken in December 2019. Satellite analysis show that China may be building a second pier or quay as to increase the naval capacity of the base. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, beginning in April 2020, the

began taking precautions to prevent a COVID-19 outbreak at the base by enforcing stricter entry and exit controls as well as deploying additional medical personnel to the base. The precautions also were adopted at other military bases in China.

Functions

China has stated that the facility will serve primarily to support

military logistics Military logistics is the discipline of planning and carrying out the movement, supply, and maintenance of military forces. In its most comprehensive sense, it is those aspects or military operations that deal with: * Design, development, Milita ...

for Chinese troops in the

, and also other activities that are a net positive for maritime public goods, including

peacekeeping Peacekeeping comprises activities, especially military ones, intended to create conditions that favor lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces civilian and battlefield deaths, as well as reduces the risk of renewed w ...

humanitarian Humanitarianism is an ideology centered on the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotiona ...

and

disaster relief Emergency management (also Disaster management) is a science and a system charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actu ...

operations in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. It also bolsters the Chinese navy's efforts to prevent

piracy Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

on high seas, and allows easy access for the PLAN warships into the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

and

. China views its facility in Djibouti as consistent with its obligations under its 2015 National Security Law, which calls for protection of strategic energy supply channels (in clause 28) and citizens abroad (in clause 30). Based on its experience evacuating 35,000 Chinese citizens from Libya in 2011 and over 600 from Yemen in 2015, China sought a more permanent presence in the region to facilitate evacuations if necessary in the future. However, China avoids the terms "military base" or "naval base" and prefers the term "support facility" or "logistic facility". This implies a different approach to naval power projection. The heavily fortified base is in size and staffed by approximately 1,000–2,000 personnel, and has an underground space of 23,000 square meters. The base has a 400m

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

with an

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled air ...

tower, as well as a large helicopter apron. The base also houses the PLA Support Base Hospital in Djibouti. A pier finished construction in December 2019. The 1,120 foot pier is reported to be long enough to be able to fit the PLAN's two new aircraft carriers and other warships or at least four nuclear powered submarines.

Assessment

Tensions with foreign militaries

The presence of a Chinese base in close proximity to a US base has created geopolitical tensions. The United States had blocked a Russian base in 2014 and started a upgrade of Camp Lemonnier. US government officials were "blindsided" by Djibouti's approval of a Chinese base just two years later. Djiboutian President

claimed that the United States had a "fixation" about the Chinese base and complained "incessantly" that the Chinese were hampering their operations. He also said that the Japanese were even more worried than the Americans. Guelleh said that the Chinese would have no problem cohabiting with Western powers if they didn't "spy constantly" on the Chinese. According to Chinese prosecutor Jian Jiamin, the

Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force The , abbreviated , also simply known as the Japanese Navy, is the maritime warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, tasked with the naval defense of Japan. The JMSDF was formed following the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy ...

sent divers to approach a Chinese warship while it was docked at the base, who were detected and driven off. In 2018, the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...

issued a

NOTAM A NOTAM (ICAO & FAA: Notice to Airmen, CAA: Notice to Aviation or, for the FAA from 2021 to 2025, Notice to Air Missions) is a notice filed with an aviation authority to alert aircraft pilots of potential hazards along a flight route or at a loca ...

reporting instances of laser attacks against pilots flying near the base, injuring two airmen. The Chinese Defense Ministry denied the accusations and asked the United States "to not swiftly speculate or make accusations." China, in turn, complains low-flying American aircraft have conducted spy missions near its base. A 2024 report by the

Center for Strategic International Studies The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. From its founding in 1962 until 1987, it was an affiliate of Georgetown University, initially named the Center for Strategic and Inte ...

identifies Djibouti, along with three other sites in Cuba, as most likely to be supporting China's efforts to collect intelligence on the United States and its neighbors.

Economic impact

According to Thierry Pairault of the

French National Centre for Scientific Research The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 engi ...

, Chinese investment has limited yet positive growing impact for Djiboutians despite the mainly outward-looking of the effort.

References