Is China Secretly Building a Navy Base in Africa?

By Shannon Tiezzi

March 28, 2015

http://thediplomat.com/2015/03/is-china-secretly-building-a-navy-base-in-africa/

Plus, more on China-Africa relations, China’s anti-corruption tsar, and CCP factionalism. Friday China links. 

Writing for Real Clear Defense, Robert C. O’Brienexplores reports that China is looking to build an overseas naval base in Namibia. O’Brien notes the historical strategic importance of Walvis Bay, Namibia’s sole deep water port, adding that the South Atlantic is generally “below the radar of most policy makers today.” If the PLA Navy does construct a base at Walvis Bay, he writes, “It would have the ability to patrol the critical Cape of Good Hope around Africa and Cape Horn around South America. The approaches to the key North Atlantic sea lanes linking the Americas, Africa and Europe would be nearby.”