The U.S. government believes that China is planning to build its first military base in the Atlantic Ocean, specifically in Equatorial Guinea. This has been conveyed to the Central African country by Joe Biden’s administration, which has raised concerns about “potential measures” and activities that suggest that Beijing could be building a military base.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby declined to confirm the contents of an article in The Wall Street Journal, which indicates the existence of classified U.S. intelligence reports suggesting that China is seeking to establish a military base in Equatorial Guinea, which, if realized, would be the first permanent Chinese military presence in the Atlantic Ocean, where its ships could dock and refuel.
“There are national security concerns and we have seen China try to establish positions, I’m not saying military, in other parts of the world to try to gain influence,” said Kirby
The spokesman asserted that China engages in “coercive” behavior with many African nations, which, in his view, it tries to intimidate and influence with economic measures in pursuit of its own national security objectives.
The Wall Street Journal explains in its article that US senior deputy national security advisor Jon Finer visited Equatorial Guinea in October on a mission to persuade Equatoguinean President Teodoro Obiang and his son, Vice President Teodoro “Teodorin” Obiang, to reject China’s moves.
In a Senate appearance in April, Gen. Stephen Townsend, head of the U.S. Africa Command (Africom), warned that the most significant threat from China to U.S. interests in that part of the world would come if it achieved “a militarily useful naval installation on the African Atlantic coast.”
“By militarily useful I mean more than just a place from which they can refuel and get food, I’m talking about a port where they can rearm with munitions and repair ships,” Townsend explained.
