Africa

DJIBOUTI – Chinese Imperialism in Africa

September 28, 2018

Djibouti is a former French colony on the Horn of Africa. It is the country, in which China built its first overseas military base – the Chinese People's Liberation Army Support Base in Djibouti – that is able to hold up to 10.000 soldiers.

The first public plans for the strategic base in Djibouti began in 2015 with President Ismail Omar Guelleh. The base is part of Chinas "Belt and Road" initiative, an economic plan that aims to rival the US Imperialist world order. Chinese imperialism tried to justify this by saying they would increase humanitarian work in Africa. "Setting up a base in Djibouti is a non-exclusive decision, which would help promote international cooperation on fighting terrorism around Africa," Han Hua, an associate Professor at the School of International Studies, Peking University, told the Global Times (chinese state-run news) in 2016. Chinese officials have also talked about "counterterrorism operations in Africa and the Middle East" operating from the facility.

The PLA Navi's first overseas military base cost about US$590 million and was formally opened on August 1, 2017. It is located by the Chinese-operated Port of Doraleh in Djibouti City, near Camp Lemonnier (United States Navy), Base aerienne 188 (French Air Force), and Japans Self-Defense Force Base Djibouti. Camp Lemonnier is the biggest permanent US military base in all of Africa, with 4.000 troups stationed there. A 2013 Washington Post report said that "upwards of 16 drone flights every day were deployed out of Camp Lemonnier".

Chinas strategy of building its military base in Djibouti seems to have multiple reasons:

• It will increase their grip on the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean.
• It is close to the Suez Canal, one of the worlds most important shipping routes and a big target of piracy.
• It is a geographically great place to secure oil imports from the arabic penninsula to China.

China, like every other Imperialist and enemy of the oppressed people, in its essence wants to become a global superpower, the world leader, by expanding their sphere of leaverege. It tries to challenge the U.S.-led world order with its overseas military expansions and already officially is Africa’s largest „trading partner“. With their troops they terrorize the african people, oppress and exploit them, and want to make sure that they get their profit out of their wares and products - wheter human or substancial.

The proletarian Ideology, Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, gives the answer on how to gain national liberation from occupiers, doesn't matter if chinese imperialism, the US, etc. Only through the New Democratic Revolution, the people living in what is now Djibouti can gain sovereignty and walk forward on the path to Socialism and Communism.

Chinas Plan for the "Belt and Road" initiative:

 Source: https://www.newepoch.media/single-post/2018/09/28/DJIBOUTI-%E2%80%93-Chinese-Imperialism-in-Africa