You mentioned that areas of US concern include China's growing military presence. What is China's millitary presence in Africa and why?

The one confirmed base, and what it actually is

The PLA (People's Liberation Army) Support Base in Djibouti is China's only formally acknowledged overseas military base, and China has recently upgraded it, enhancing its operational and intelligence-gathering capabilities across the Middle East and Africa. By 2025, the Djibouti base hosts up to 2,000 PLA personnel and includes a pier large enough for aircraft carriers, housing for marines, and advanced surveillance facilities. We already talked about why Djibouti is the perfect host. The relevant addition here is that Doraleh Port, the Chinese-developed commercial port in Djibouti, opened in 2017, and two months later Chinese and Djiboutian officials celebrated the completion of the military base just minutes away, with Chinese armed forces reportedly having exclusive use of at least one of the port's berths. That sequence is the template Washington is watching everywhere else on the continent.

The real strategy: ports as a slow hand

China does not need to plant a flag to build leverage. China has invested $50 billion in African port infrastructure since 2013, and Beijing has either financed, built, taken a stake in, or controls operations of an estimated 78 trade ports in 32 African countries. What began as trade-focused infrastructure under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, China's global infrastructure lending and construction program) has evolved into a network of dual-use facilities with both commercial and military potential. Dual-use simply means a port built to move cargo that is also deep enough, wide enough, and wired enough to berth a warship or collect signals intelligence if Beijing ever needs it to.

China's expansive port development in Africa raises concerns about the possibility of repurposing commercial ports for military use, given the close relationship between Chinese port-building firms and the PLA. Locations identified as potentially dual-purpose include Walvis Bay in Namibia, Tin Can Island in Nigeria, Nacala in Mozambique, and Victoria in the Seychelles.

The exercises and naval visits

Beyond ports and bases, China is building familiarity with African militaries directly. The PLA Navy conducted at least 15 African port calls between 2024 and 2025, exceeding all previous annual totals on record, underscoring a notable expansion of China's naval presence and reach. Training programs, arms sales, and joint drills are steadily strengthening ties with African militaries across the continent. The most recent joint air exercise, held in 2026, upgraded the aircraft involved from J-10s to J-16s, incorporating beyond-visual-range combat, air-to-ground strikes, and suppression of enemy air defenses, representing a shift toward more realistic warfighting scenarios.

Why China is doing this

Three reasons, stacked on top of each other.

First, economics. The 2011 evacuation of 35,000 Chinese citizens from Libya showed Beijing the value of overseas military reach when things go wrong in countries where China has large commercial interests.

Second, trade protection. China's Five-Year Plan calls for a connectivity framework of six corridors, six routes, and multiple countries and ports to advance BRI construction, and notably three of those six corridors run through Africa, landing in East Africa, Egypt, and Tunisia. Protecting those corridors means having ships nearby.

Third, great-power signaling. China's own 2019 defence white paper stated that the PLA was developing overseas logistical facilities to address deficiencies in overseas operations, calling for a shift from near-coast defence to far-seas maneuvering operations. That is not the language of a country that simply wants better trade routes.

Beijing's position, for the record, is that all of this is defensive and invited. Chinese officials have said their activities on the continent are carried out at the invitation of local countries, aimed at counterterrorism and strengthening national defense capabilities. The US disagrees, and that disagreement is why you are seeing American embassies, development financing, and diplomatic energy pouring into Africa at the same time.