Washington: A new Pentagon report says China’s construction of a military outpost in Djibouti (jih-BOO’-tee) is the first of what will likely be an ongoing expansion in friendly foreign ports around the world to support distant deployments.
It predicts that Pakistan may be another potential location.
The annual assessment of China’s military might also notes that while China has not seized much new land to create more man-made islands, it has substantially built up the reefs with extended runways and other military facilities. And it has increased patrols and law enforcement to protect them.
The Djibouti base construction is near Camp Lemonnier, the US base in the Horn of Africa nation. But American military leaders have said they don’t see it as a threat that will interfere with US operations there.
PTI
