According to reports, China wants Equatorial Guinea to allow them to set up a base military off their coast. This would be a major move that would provide Beijing with a stronghold in the Atlantic and greatly concern Washington.
U.S. intelligence officials believe that Xi Jinping, China’s president, is hoping to convince the president of the West African nation, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, to allow expansion of an existing port in the city of Bata, and conversion into a military base.
If China converted the Bata port to a military base it would allow Beijing to repair and rebuild their warships in the same waters as the US Eastern Seaboard.
“We have communicated to Equatorial Guinea, as part of our diplomacy on maritime-security problems, that we consider certain steps to be taken. [Chinese] activity there would raise national-security concerns,’ a senior Biden administration official told The Wall Street Journal on Sunday.
A Chinese military base located in Atlantic waters has been suggested by officials before, amid tensions with the United States over Taiwan and COVID.
China has only one military outpost, Djibouti in East Africa. It opened it in 2017. It is located on the opposite side of Africa and overlooks the Gulf of Aden.
China built a new commercial port in Equatorial Guinea in Bata in 2009, making it the most populous city in Equatorial Guinea. Malabo is the capital of Malabo and it can be reached by an hour-long flight to an island.
Jonathan Finer, the deputy National Security Advisor, is seen on October 19 meeting the vice president, and son of the president, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue
President’s son sent a tweet thanking America for the gift that he got after meeting Jonathan Finer.
Jonathan Finer was Joe Biden’s assistant National Security Advisor and was sent to Equatorial Guinée in October to talk to him about the matter.
Africa’s oldest-serving president at 79, Finer is his presumed heir.
Teodoro Naguema Obiang Mengue, 53, is the vice president of the regime and the globe-trotting face. He posted a video on Instagram that showed him meeting Finer, and thanked him.
He tweeted the photo of Finer’s silver tray.
He then posted photos from his meeting with a Chinese delegation a week later and thanked them for supporting his country.
He said that at the end of the month, an Equatorial Guinea delegation will fly to Senegal for the China-Africa Forum.
Washington will most likely observe the meeting closely.
In September 2018, President Teodoro Obiang Mbasogo (79), Africa’s oldest-serving leader, is seen meeting Xi Jinping at Beijing. China seems keen to establish a military base on Equatorial Gui.
General Stephen Townsend from the U.S. Africa Command stated before the Senate in April that China was the “most significant threat” and said that a militarily-use naval facility at the Atlantic coast of Africa would pose the greatest danger.
He stated that militarily useful does not mean just a location where they can call port and pick up gas or groceries.
“I mean a place where naval ships can be repaired and munitions are stored.”
Two months later, Maj. Gen. Andrew Rohling, commander of the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force—Africa, said that the U.S. concern ‘is that the Chinese would develop a naval base in Equatorial Guinea, which would then give them naval presence on the Atlantic.’
According to The Wall Street Journal the Biden administration told Equatorial Guinea, it wouldn’t be wise to engage in U.S.–China tensions.
They emphasize how helpful the U.S. can assist them, sending help after an apparent accidental ammunition explosion damaged an army base close to Bata. 100 people were killed.
But the U.S. has to tread carefully: Obiangs are famous for their excesses and luxury, as well as their support for human rights.
‘Teddy Nguema’, as the president’s son Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue is known on Instagram, was accused by U.S. prosecutors of siphoning off more than $300 million
Assumed heir to presidency at 53 years old, he frequently posts pictures of himself in luxury locations such as this jet private.
A photo uploaded by his Instagram shows the son of President Barack Obama meeting Pope Francis.
Nguema Obiang enjoys his jet-setting lifestyle and highly powered friends
Nguema Obiang, a U.S. prosecutor forced Nguema to forfeit Malibu’s Malibu house and Ferrari among others in 2014.
U.S. lawyers charged the son of the President, whose Instagram accounts show him playing polo or on private aircrafts; meeting with world leaders like the Pope and Israel’s Prime Minister; and amassing more than $300m through corruption and money laundering.
He earned less than $100,000 per year as minister for agriculture and forestry, but the money was in his account.
A 2014 settlement saw him surrender to the federal government all proceeds from his Malibu house, Ferrari and other assets.
The Justice Department declared this fall that $26.6 million worth of surrendered assets would be returned to Equatorial Guia in the form COVID-19 vaccines or other medical aid. This was without the involvement of the government.
China has a reputation for being more polite than the United States.
Since 1979, Equatorial Guinea has been ruled by President Obiang.
Chinese government data shows that 100 ports in Africa have been constructed by state-owned Chinese companies over the past 20 years.
According to a U.S. official, American diplomats have advised local authorities in Mauritania to reject any attempt by Beijing to use a port built by China for military purposes.
This year’s report to Congress by the Pentagon stated that China “has probably considered” African bases in Kenya and Tanzania.
Paul Nantulya from the Pentagon-funded Africa Center for Strategic Studies, said that China does not build military bases like the U.S.
The paper was told by him that the Chinese model is quite, very different.
“It incorporates both security and civilian elements.”