New | China outlines overseas assets it will protect
White paper lays down scope of Chinese interests abroad that military will defend, such as tankers at risk of piracy off Africa
China has for the first time officially defined the areas that it says are crucial to its overseas interests, vowing in a defence white paper to protect them.
Those areas included energy, natural resources and key sea routes, the document said. Analysts added the interests also covered overseas companies, their staff and other Chinese nationals, and that the People's Liberation Army Navy would act to ensure their protection.
Defence ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said in Beijing yesterday that China's overseas interests were not adversarial or mutually exclusive with those of other countries.
China was "making a contribution to regional stability" by a greater engagement in this sphere, he said, citing the navy's escort missions protecting commercial tankers from pirates in the Gulf of Aden as an example.
The PLA is going to learn from the US military's experience in the Gulf war
Shanghai-based naval expert Ni Lexiong said: "That means wherever China's national interest goes, its military fleet will follow for protection."
Ni said one example of the maritime force's capacity to safeguard China's interests was the navy's evacuation of more than 600 nationals and hundreds of foreigners from Yemen in March and April after security deteriorated in the country.
Security cooperation was mentioned in only one paragraph of the document, but Yang stressed that Beijing would aim to partner its efforts with other countries.
He denied earlier media reports that China had military bases abroad or had plans to establish any. But Ismail Omar Guelleh, the president of Djibouti, told Agence France-Presse this month that Beijing was negotiating with the African state to build a base there.
Djibouti oversees the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the channel separating Africa from Arabia and one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. The Gwadar port in Pakistan is also likely to become a Chinese military depot, Chinese sources have told the .
Chinese military experts said it was unlikely the depots would become fully fledged military bases, but Beijing did see the need for a stronger presence abroad as it rolled out its "One Belt, One Road" initiative.
Macau-based military observer Antony Wong Dong said the bases would focus on providing supplies to Chinese military and civilian vessels, which Beijing hoped to bring together.
"China has the world's second-largest civilian logistics force in its airlines and shipping companies. Such a huge fleet will support the country's dream of being a great sea power in the world," Wong said. "The PLA is going to learn from the US military's experience in the Gulf war in the early 1990s and the 1982 Falklands war between Britain and Argentina, with civilian vessels and airlines playing key roles to support their militaries to defeat enemies."
