China is present in a third of African ports, some of which are sized to accommodate Chinese warships. Pekin thus intends to guarantee and secure its access to African raw materials.
Eager to increase its maritime and military presence internationally, China is establishing itself along the African coasts in strategic ports likely to ensure the maintenance of its warships.
These civil ports, often administered by Chinese public enterprises, no longer have only a commercial vocation. They are also designed to house warships.
This incursion on the African continent creates a network of potential naval bases, able to receive military ships in the immediate vicinity of major commercial crossroads such as the Suez Canal, warn defense specialists.
It is also the way for Beijing to access highly sought-after raw materials, such as copper or cobalt – essential for modern technological tools.
Most of these ports are indeed directly connected to mining sites by Chinese rail and road projects, a good point for Beijing in the strategic raw materials race between it and Washington.
The control of these ports could also allow Chinese representatives to closely monitor the goods and sensitive cargo that transit through them, the specialists continue.
American rivalry. At a time when Beijing and Washington are fighting for global influence, the seas and oceans are gradually emerging as a place of strategic power. Donald Trump is thus betting on intimidation and focusing on the development of US naval capabilities to establish his power and seize evidence of his threats to invade Greenland and his seizures of Venezuelan oil tankers (as well as the war in Iran triggered by Israel and the United States on February 28).
Meanwhile, Beijing, which already has the largest military fleet in the world – is trying to do the same in Africa.
Various Chinese public companies are now involved in the construction, financing or operation of 78 ports in 32 African countries.
This is particularly the case with the deep-water port of Lekki, near Lagos, Nigeria, which has become one of the « largest ports in West Africa thanks to 660 million pounds (754 million euros] of Chinese investments.
Its huge docks and cranes can accommodate the giants of international trade and their countless containers, and saw more than $9 billion (€7.65 billion) of goods pass through in the first nine months of 2025.
Opened in 2023, Lekki is just one example among others. For about ten years, Pekin has been building, modernizing and running port complexes throughout the continent.
The Center for African Strategic Studies (CESA) [attached to the U.S. Department of Defense] reports the presence of Chinese companies in more than a third of African commercial ports, much more than in Latin America or Asia.
This new maritime network facing China also reflects Beijing’s desire to ensure supply routes preserved from sanctions,
which would remain operational even in the event of deterioration in relations with the West – about Taiwan, for example. « All this is part of a strategy of progressive military encirclement of Africa, » summarizes Benedict Hamlyn, of the [British] think tank Royal United.
Services Institute (Rusi), « Er vola that suddenly, Westerners are losing their commercial (ascendant), their geopolitical influence, and their military presence in Africa. « China’s expertise, unbeatable rates and the entrepreneurship approach to development have made it the preferred partner of African nations in search of new infrastructure and trade expansion.
Thanks to this port establishment policy, Beijing now has a comfortable lead in the race for highly coveted strategic resources, but also a network of powerful maritime bases, experts warn.
Because the ports of Lekki, Luanda in Angola, Mombasa in Kenya, Walvis Bay in Namibia, Victoria in the Seychelles and Dar Es-Salaam in Tanzania could one day serve the Chinese navy, according to a Cesa report published last year.
Chinese naval strategy advisors speak of « strategic strongholds » in These ports extend the range of action of the Chinese navy in the Atlantic and in the foreign Indian Ocean. Many African ports have also been sized to accommodate Chinese warships in addition to civilian buildings.
« They are building these ports with a view to accessing African raw materials, but in some cases, the development is very intelligently designed to kill two birds with one stone, » says Benedict Hamlyn. With infrastructure that can shelter destroyers in peacetime, refuel oil tankers and offer logistical support. « Chinese warships are already regularly venturing near the African coast, in particular to carry out maneuvers, such as off Cape Town (in January) as part of exercises in the BRICS countries
– in which Russia, Iran and South Africa also participated.
Visible presence. These ports would be easy targets in wartime, but they offer the advantage of significantly expanding the Chinese navy’s range of action in the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean.
« China wants to compete with the United States, » summarizes Benedict Hamlyn. Not necessarily making it a canteen, but she wants to measure herself in Washington. And for this, she must be present, and having military ships in cos ports allows her to show herself, to establish herself as an essential actor to lead the dance. «
China already has a logistics naval base in Doraleh, Djibouti, near the Suez Canal.
But being directly involved in the infrastructure and management of different ports of commerce is also a significant asset for Beijing – even if these structures also welcome other countries and civilian exchanges.
This African presence could allow Chinese companies to keep an eye on everything that transits through these ports, according to Benedict Hamlyn.
Because « it is the operator who distributes the ships between the different docks, who accepts or refuses the stops. And this position also makes it possible to offer preferential rates and services to ships and goods from its own country, « details Cesa.
The control of an external actor over the management of a port therefore raises obvious questions of sovereignty and security, underlines the think tank.
« It is for this reason that some countries prohibit foreign operators. «
Fearing that Beijing will thus extend its maritime influence in Latin America, Donald Trump has announced his intention to snatch ports on both sides of the Panama Canal from the hands of Chinese investors. Concerns swept away by Beijing, which assures that speculations about the possible threat posed by Chinese ports are « unfounded ». According to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Washington is simply seeking to « discredit and disrupt China’s economic and trade alliances with other countries ».
[At the end of January], British Prime Minister Keir Starmer went to Beijing in the company of several great Bacid C ralst » about China’s security ambitions, while relaunching trade ties between the two countries. On the other side of the Atlantic, the Pentagon assures that it no longer considers rivalry with the Milicu empire as an absolute priority, a major turnaround in American geopolitical strategy. [In early February], Donald Trump nevertheless organized a summit on strategic minerals, in the hope of succeeding in catching up with China in access to these resources essential to the tech sector.
For Benedict Hamlyn, of Rusi, African ports give Beijing a significant advantage in this struggle for influence with the West.
China’s primary objective, thanks to its port activities closely linked to its railway construction projects, could be to build supply networks independent of Western markets, he believes. Enough to protect yourself from possible sanctions in the event of geopolitical tensions.
Because if the situation were to tense up, around Taiwan for example, the adoption of sanctions would certainly be the main lever of the West to put pressure on Pekin.
Moreover, Chinese leaders seem to have been favorably impressed by the way Vladimir Putin was able to consolidate his economy to maintain it despite the heavy sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine.
And Benedict Hamlyn concluded: « The ultimate goal is to ensure that if the United States and other countries were to severely restrict, or even completely stop, their cooperation with China, Beijing already has other supply chains to resist isolation. «
