Since under the guise of freedom of the seas, we have a presence in the South China Sea, China plans to one day have one in the Atlantic off U.S. territorial waters, perhaps off of D.C or New York City.
China is scouting for a naval base on the west coast of Africa. In the near future, therefore, Chinese ships could be regularly patrolling off America’s East Coast.
In recent testimony before the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, General Stephen Townsend, commander of U.S. Africa Command, has been sounding the alarm.
THE CCP WANTS AFRICA
Townsend believes the People’s Liberation Army Navy is surveying locations on Africa’s west coast, from Mauritania in the north to Namibia in the south. “Now they’re casting their gaze to the Atlantic coast and wanting to get such a base there,” the general told the Associated Press.
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Africa, of course, is important in its own right as the “crossroads of the world.
The African continent is home to 11 of the 25 fast-growing economies and is the world’s most demographically vital region.
THE CCP WANTS THE ATLANTIC
Chinese planners are also eyeing islands in the Atlantic, specifically Terceira, one of the Azores.
On that island, part of Portugal, there is a port and, of even greater interest, Air Base No. 4. Better known as Lajes Field, the facility is jointly operated by the U.S. Air Force and its Portuguese counterpart.
“If China controlled the base, the Atlantic would no longer be secure. From the 10,865-foot runway there, Chinese planes could patrol the northern and central portions of the Atlantic and thereby cut air and sea traffic between the U.S. and Europe. Beijing would also be able to deny access to the nearby Mediterranean Sea,” Gordon Chang writes at the Gatestone Institute.
Chang continues: Pentagon budget cutters have been scaling back activities at Lajes, making it a “ghost base.” As a result, Lajes is ripe for China to take it over.
Whether China takes over Lajes or not, China’s plans for Africa are clear. As Bradley Bowman of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told the Washington Times this month, “It’s just a matter of time before you have regular surface and subsurface Chinese naval vessels in the Atlantic,” Chang says.
They could create a lot of mischief for us.
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