China's grip on African ports deepens, raising red flags on military aims

By Tony Wesolowsky | 2025-03-19

China is rapidly expanding its influence over Africa's maritime infrastructure -- with state-owned firms now controlling almost 80 ports across the continent -- fueling concern that China could repurpose many of these commercial sites for military use, a report found.

An estimated 78 ports in 32 African countries have either builders, financiers or operators from China, Africa Center for Strategic Studies research associate Paul Nantulya wrote in a March 10 post on the institute's website.

Nowhere else in the world does China have a higher profile in terms of ports.

By comparison, Latin America and the Caribbean combined host 10 Chinese-built or -operated ports, while Asian countries host 24, according to the report by the institute, a think tank funded by the US Department of Defense.

Commercial ports that China is developing could undergo reconfiguration for military purposes, the report said.

China extended its development of Djibouti's Doraleh Port, which it long hailed as purely a commercial project, to accommodate a naval facility in 2017, the report added.

It became China's first confirmed overseas military base.

Situated at the narrow entrance to the Red Sea, Djibouti is on one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.

About 10% of global oil exports and 20% of commercial goods pass through the narrow strait to and from the Suez Canal.

Joint drills

Gen. Stephen Townsend of the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) in May 2021 warned that China had already contacted multiple coastal African states about establishing naval facilities.

Such projects could enable China to base warships in its expanding navy in the Atlantic as well as Pacific oceans.

"They're looking for a place where they can rearm and repair warships. That becomes militarily useful in conflict," Townsend told the Associated Press.

China is also expanding its military presence through exercises with African nations.

In 2019, China, Russia and South Africa conducted the first ever trilateral exercises among the three countries to "enhance interoperability and maritime security."

The Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy, the Russian navy and the South African military repeated the exercises in 2023.

'Beijing's global ambitions'

In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed creating a"Silk Road Economic Belt" across Central Asia and Europe and a "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" running through the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, onto the Middle East and Europe.

China soon fused these two visions and dubbed them the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

China's port development strategy also has connected Africa's 16 landlocked countries via Chinese-constructed transport infrastructure, such as roads and railroads.

However, it is the military potential of many of the port projects that is raising concerns.

Of the 78 African ports with a Chinese stake, 36 have hosted visits or military drills involving the Chinese navy, including ports in Maputo (Mozambique), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Lagos (Nigeria), Durban (South Africa) and Port-Gentil (Gabon), according to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.

In total, the Chinese military has conducted 55 port calls and 19 bilateral and multilateral military exercises in Africa since 2000, it said.

Beijing's current Five-Year Plan highlights a so-called connectivity framework positioning Africa as a pivotal link in China's global trade network to further BRI construction, the report said.

Three of the six corridors outlined in the Chinese plan run through Africa, landing in East Africa, Egypt, Tunisia and the Suez region, it added.

This stake in Africa "reinforces the central role that the continent plays in Beijing's global ambitions," Nantulya said in the report.