US accuses China of using lasers to blind fighter pilots in skies above Djibouti base

THE United States has accused China of mounting a campaign of harassment against its forces in the Horn of Africa by using military grade lasers to disorient its fighter pilots.

The Pentagon issued a formal complaint, demanding that Beijing investigate a series of incidents in recent weeks in the skies above Djibouti, where China and the US operate military bases just miles apart.

The allegations, including a claim that two US air force pilots suffered eye injuries during one laser attack, drew swift denials, China’s defence ministry dismissing them as being “in complete contradiction of the facts”. The military confrontation between the two powers is the most serious so far in Africa, where Beijing has worked assiduously to project its growing economic and geopolitical heft.

Djibouti stunned Washington by allowing China to build its first overseas military base, completed last year, within 18 miles of Camp Lemonnier, headquarters of US Africa Command.

Washington’s fears that the Chinese were planning to mount surveillance operations of US operations in Somalia and Yemen were brushed aside after China pledged nearly £1billion to upgrade Djibouti’s ports and airport.

Home to 4,000 US service personnel, Camp Lemonnier also serves as a platform for American special forces and drone operations against Islamist militants. Djibouti has become the scene of deep international intrigue, drawing comparisons with Vichy Casablanca.

France, Italy and Japan also have military bases in a country just twice the size of Yorkshire and with a population of under a million.

♦ France’s Pacific territory of New Caledonia will become a “colony of China” if it votes for independence in November, a leader of the island state has warned. Philippe Gomès, the founder of the Caledonia Together party, issued the prediction amid rising concerns over Chinese expansionism.

While around half the size of Holland, it is home to around a quarter of the world’s nickel deposits. The claim came as Emmanuel Macron, the French president, paid his first visit to the island.