Foreign Affairs published on 22 May 2023 an article titled "China's Port Power" by Isaac Kardon, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Wendy Leutert, Indiana University.
Chinese firms with close links to Beijing have become leaders in financing, designing, building, operating, and owning port terminals around the world, including Africa. Although China has only one foreign military base--in Djibouti--, it can leverage dual civilian-military uses of Chinese firms' extensive international network of ocean port infrastructure.
By the end of 2022, Chinese firms had acquired ownership and/or operational stakes in 95 ports in 53 countries. A Chinese firm is the majority shareholder in at least one terminal at 55 of the 95 ports and 24 of them are wholly owned. Chinese firms operate all terminals in 29 of these ports, for example, in Hambantota, Sri Lanka, and in Kribi, Cameroon.
China has demonstrated that the familiar American model of power projection through overseas military bases is not the only pathway to establishing a global military presence.
