Mapping China's Maritime Strategy

 The National Bureau of Asian Research published on 1 August 2024 an essay titled "Geography Matters, Time Collides: Mapping China's Maritime Strategic Space Under Xi" by Andrew Erickson.

The author uses maps as visual references for understanding China's evolving maritime geography and the constraints on its power in the maritime domain.  Concerning Africa, he identifies potential PLAN ports in Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, and Mauritania.  Constraints on the projection of Chinese sea power in African waters are long distances from China and choke points such as Bab el Mandeb in the Red Sea.

China's Maritime Silk Road

The European Council on Foreign Relations published in April 2018 a policy brief titled "Blue China: Navigating the Maritime Silk Road to Europe" by Mathieu Duchatel and Alexandre Sheldon Duplaix.

While the focus of the study is Europe, the authors conclude that China's Maritime Silk Road is about power and international influence. Northeast Africa, especially Djibouti, the Red Sea, and the Suez Canal are an important part of this construct.

The Power of Ports: China's Maritime March

The Diplomat published on 8 March 2017 an interview with Sam Beatson, King's College London, titled "The Power of Ports: China's Maritime March" by Mercy A. Kuo.

Beatson concluded there is projection of power in the way China has built up and deployed port, merchant shipping, and naval assets, in addition to the economic logic of doing so. A recognition of the need to deal with Chinese vulnerability, particularly in respect of protecting the flow of commodity imports, especially energy, forms a part of the practical basis of the expansion.