China watchers are monitoring work by government-owned construction firms to build, invest in or operate new or upgraded ports in Africa for potential future use in military operations, including Lekki in Nigeria, Kribi in Cameroon, Bata in Equatorial Guinea and Bagamoyo in Tanzania.
 
The China-backed ports have design features suitable for both commercial and military uses. Chinese companies have built and/or financed 78 ports in 32 African countries.

“At least seven Chinese-backed ports in Africa have design features that make them capable of berthing Chinese naval facilities although they may not have been created specifically for this purpose,” Paul Nantulya, research associate and China analyst at the National Defense University Africa Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, D.C., told ENR.

He cited the port of Walvis Bay in Namibia that can house up to eight guided missile destroyers, and the port of Luwanda in Angola capable of hosting any major Chinese surface combatant vessel. The Indian Ocean port of Victoria in the Seychelles can also host up to two Chinese corvettes, while Djibouti already hosts a Chinese military base, Nantulya said.

He cited four features that make a port suitable for military use—significant sea depth, secure location, fully integrated operations capability and sufficient involvement of Chinese companies in construction, financial and even port operations.

A 2024 research paper by the London-based Royal United Services Institute is more specific. 

“China is also ensuring that a significant amount of its port construction is being completed to a ‘dual port use specification’ to avoid Western suspicion of naval buildup,” it said. “Chinese-funded ports are built to accommodate commercial trade, but can—with significant risks and complications—be flipped to military use as depth and landing and docking zones are built to [military] specifications.”

Satellite imagery of the Mombasa, Kenya port revealed that its 245-meter-long military-grade dock could berth two corvettes and any surface combatant up to certain guided-missile destroyers, the report said. It quoted a private military investigation that also found the Luanda port in Angola can accommodate certain naval destroyers. 

The report quotes China’s 2019 defense white paper as saying that naval officials were developing “overseas logistical facilities to address deficiencies in overseas operations,” calling for a shift from “near coast active defense to far seas maneuvering operations.

Nantulya said he dentified more than 10 occasions when Chinese military ships have docked in seven different African ports in recent years, including Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, Lagos in Nigeria, Durban in South Africa) and Doraleh in Djibouti as staging grounds for exercises.

Chinese companies take advantage of synergies between the import of China-made goods and China-backed projects to develop railways, roads and ports under the multi-billion dollar Belt and Road Initiative. The Chinese government is coordinating these operations because it is keen on securing major sea routes, said Nantulya. Western companies, including those from the U.S., do not have this advantage.

“My assessment is that China will definitely build a new military base in Africa,” he said. “But it is difficult to guess which port will be selected for this purpose.”