to "stop china", the united states wants to aid this african country
2024-09-10
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singapore's lianhe zaobao quoted a bloomberg report on september 7, saying that after china announced that it would provide security assistance to africa, a source said that the united states is also developing economic and security assistance packages for gabon, a central african country with an important strategic location. us media said that this move is to "prevent china from establishing a military base in gabon." experts interviewed by the global times believe that china's military cooperation with africa is aimed at helping african countries improve their national defense autonomy and military defense capabilities, which is different from the practices of the united states and other western countries.
from september 4 to 6, the beijing summit of the forum on china-africa cooperation was held in beijing. the forum on china-africa cooperation-beijing action plan (2025-2027) released during the forum pointed out that china is willing to work with africa to establish a partnership for the implementation of the global security initiative, create a demonstration zone for cooperation in the global security initiative, and carry out preliminary cooperation on the global security initiative. provide rmb 1 billion in free military assistance to africa, support the construction of african countries' military forces, train 6,000 military personnel for africa, invite 500 young african officers to visit china, carry out joint exercises and training and joint patrols between the chinese and african militaries, and implement the "action to help africa get rid of mine hazards". deepen exchanges and cooperation on security guarantees for the joint construction of the "belt and road", train 1,000 police law enforcement personnel for africa, and jointly safeguard the safety of cooperation projects and personnel.
after china announced the plan, bloomberg news quoted sources on the 6th as saying that the united states plans to provide gabon with "supporting assistance projects", including training for the country's special forces. according to reports, gabonese president nguema will visit the united states in late september or early october, and the united states will "officially announce" its aid plan to gabon at that time. the plan formulated by the united states will also include: helping gabon build a radar system to monitor illegal fishing, expanding cooperation between gabon and the west virginia national guard, and assisting in protecting gabon's national parks.
us media said that the reason the us did this was to "prevent china from expanding its military presence in africa". bloomberg quoted sources as saying that us deputy secretary of state campbell "warned" nguema when he met with him in gabon in july that any military training facilities built by china could be "a prelude to a more lasting presence" and that "what happened in djibouti could happen again". us cia deputy director cohen also claimed that china originally only built a logistics support facility in djibouti, "but now this facility has transformed into a fairly large naval base". bloomberg said that compared with djibouti, gabon's west coast faces the atlantic ocean and is closer to the us territory on the other side of the atlantic ocean. if china sets up a military base in gabon, it will pose a greater threat to the united states, "it can provide china with a window to understand us military movements."
in this regard, military expert zhang junshe said in an interview with the global times on september 8 that the relevant cooperation between china and africa is based on the principle of win-win. in terms of military cooperation, china and africa insist that relevant assistance and cooperation plans are not attached with any political conditions, do not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, and do not target any third country. he added that the chinese military has made significant contributions to peace and security in africa, which some western countries cannot discredit. the ultimate goal of china's military cooperation with african countries, including military assistance, is to help african countries improve their national defense autonomy and military defense capabilities.
"this is completely different from what the united states and other western countries do in africa. some western countries attach many additional conditions to their various aids to africa. the ultimate goal is to interfere in the internal affairs of african countries in the name of aid," said zhang junshe.
global times reporter fan wei
