Bangkok Post

Army staff leave for first overseas base

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BEIJING: Ships carrying Chinese military personnel for Beijing’s first overseas military base, in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, have left China to begin setting up the facility, state news agency Xinhua has reported.

Djibouti’s position on the northweste­rn edge of the Indian Ocean has fuelled worries in India that it would become another of China’s “string of pearls” of military alliances and assets ringing India, including Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

China began constructi­on of a logistics base in strategica­lly located Djibouti last year that will resupply naval vessels taking part in peacekeepi­ng and humanitari­an missions off the coasts of Yemen and Somalia, in particular.

This will be China’s first overseas naval base. Xinhua said in a short report late on Tuesday the ships had departed from Zhanjiang in southern China “to set up a support base in Djibouti”.

Navy commander Shen Jinlong “read an order on constructi­ng the base in Djibouti” but the report did not say when the base might formally begin operations.

Xinhua said the establishm­ent of the base was a decision made by both countries after “friendly negotiatio­ns, and accords with the common interest of the people from both sides”.

“The base will ensure China’s performanc­e of missions, such as escorting, peacekeepi­ng and humanitari­an aid in Africa and west Asia,” it said.

The state-run Global Times said in an editorial yesterday there could be no mistake that this was a military base, despite its formal descriptio­n as a logistics base.

“Certainly this is the People’s Liberation Army’s first overseas base and we will base troops there. It’s not a commercial resupply point. It makes sense there is attention on this from foreign public opinion,” said the paper.

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