South China Sea secured, China now eyes west coast of Africa and Indian Ocean

China has a ballistic missile tracker Yuan Wang 7 off coast of Oman in Arabian Sea and another Yuan Wang 5 off coast of Durban in South Atlantic Ocean.

After virtually securing the South China Sea on the basis of conjured-up historical rights, China is now expanding its naval footprint beyond the Indian Ocean into the Atlantic Ocean with a focus on the west coast of Africa and making inroads into South America.

File photo of Yuan Wang 5 Chinese missile tracker off Sri Lanka in 2022.

While in the name of so-called “soft power” China gave mandarin names to q19 sub-surface sea-bed features in South Indian Ocean, its surveillance activities have increased in the Indian backyard with no less than 73 research, surveillance and strategic missile tracking ships spotted from 2018 to May 2023.

According to available data, 10 Chinese research vessels out of 713 China flagged visited the Indian Ocean in 2018, 14 research out of 826 flagged ships visited in 2019. In 2020, the number was 14 out of 846, in 2021, the number was 16 out of 1003, in 2022, the number was 10 out of 996 and till May 2023, the number is nine research ships out of 575 flagged vessels. China has a ballistic missile tracker Yuan Wang 7 off the coast of Oman in the Arabian Sea and another Yuan Wang 5 off the coast of Durban in the South Atlantic Ocean even today. Beijing has a naval base in Djibouti and has leverage over most of the countries on the east coast of Africa through the self-serving Belt Road Initiative, which utilizes excess infra capacities of China to be deployed in third world markets on the basis of loans and investments.

While Argentina and Brazil are under pressure to give bases to the Chinese navy, Beijing's influence can be seen on the west coast of Africa with a large number of seaports either financed or constructed by Chinese entities. The following is the list of ports on the west coast of Africa which have been financed and then constructed by Chinese entities:

· Lekki Deep Sea Port in Lagos, Nigeria

· Tonkolili Ore Project, Pepel port and Tagrin point port in Pepel, Sierra Leone

· Kribi Container Terminal, Kribi Deep Seaport in Cameroon

· Autonomous Port of Abidjan in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire

· Tin-Can Island Port Container Terminal Limited in Tin-Can Island, Lagos, Nigeria.

· Lomé Container terminal in Togo

· Conakry Container Wharf Expansion Project in Conakry, Guinea

· Friendship Port of Nouakchott in Mauritania

· Tema LNG terminal in Ghana

· Takoradi Port in Ghana

· Bakassi deep seaport in Calabar, Nigeria

· Apapa Port in Lagos, Nigeria

· Mindelo deepwater port at Cabo Verde

· Kamsar Fishing Port Economic Zone in Guinea

· Mineral Port in Nouadhibou, Mauritania

· Atuabo Freeport in Ghana

· QE II Quay Expansion Project in Sierra Leone

· Douala Chanel Expansion Project in Cameroon

· Jamestown Fishing Port Complex in Ghana

· Simandou Iron Ore Project in Guinea.

Even though Quad countries have now decided to invest in infra projects in third countries to counter the Chinese BRI leverage, Beijing is miles ahead of the democratic grouping when it comes to deliveries with no room for any democratic quibbling once the directions come from autocratic Beijing.

While India has joined hands with Saudi Arabia, UAE and US to push infrastructure in the Middle-East, China uses the Pakistani CPEC leverage to attract the Islamic nations including those in Central Asia to accept BRI investment even though it turns out to be both politically and economically costly in the long run. Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar are examples of nations which are under BRI debt and facing serious economic and political crisis.