djibouti

Many books about US-China strategic competition have been published in recent years. This episode will focus on Facing China: The Prospect for War and Peace, which examines various flashpoints in the Indo-Pacific that could result in military conflict.

There are several reasons why this book stands out: First, it includes an examination of debates within China about China’s national interests; Second, it focuses not only on the challenges of major wars, but also on China’s gray-zone strategy of deliberately pursuing its interests in ways that stay below the threshold that would trigger a US military response. And finally, it assesses the applicability of the Thucydides Trap to the US-China relationship. The Thucydides Trap concept was coined by Graham Allison who examined historical cases in which a rising power threatened to displace a ruling power in his book Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap? Allison concluded that in the majority of historical cases the outcome was war.

This book is especially interesting because it is written by a European expert who has deep knowledge of Taiwan, mainland China, and the United States: Jean-Pierre Cabestan. He is an emeritus senior researcher at the French Center for Scientific Research in Paris and an emeritus professor political science at the Department of Government and International Studies at Hone Kong Baptist University, and a visiting senior fellow at GMF. 

Timestamps

[02:07] Revisiting the Thucydides Trap 

[03:53] Why was China fascinated by this concept? 

[05:26] Reasons for the Risk of War Increasing

[06:33] The US-China Cold War and its Characteristics

[09:03] China’s Gray-Zone Activities 

[10:53] Where has China’s gray-zone strategy been the most successful? 

[12:37] Unifying Taiwan with China through Gray-Zone Activities

[14:42] Chinese Use of Force in the Taiwan Strait in the 2020s

[16:17] China’s Ambitions in the International Arena

[17:40] Future Overseas Operations of the PLA 

 

On August 1, 2017, China official opened its first overseas military base in the East African nation of Djibouti. The base, constructed to provide logistical support to the Chinese navy’s counter-piracy mission off the coast of Somalia, marked a major step toward Xi Jinping’s goal of constructing a world class military by the middle of the century.

The US Defense Department has just released its annual China Military Power Report, and that says that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) probably has also considered adding military logistics facilities in 19 countries around the world (in addition to Djibouti): Cambodia, Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, Seychelles, Tanzania, Angola, Nigeria, Namibia, Mozambique, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Tajikistan. To expand its global footprint, People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will need to cultivate good relations with potential host countries. China’s military diplomacy is likely aimed at achieving that objective among others.

Today’s discussion focuses on the key features and goals of China’s military diplomacy and its quest for additional military installations – or what the Chinese call “strategic strongpoints.” Host Bonnie Glaser is joined by Kristin Gunness, a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. She previously served as the Director of the Navy Asia Pacific Advisory Group at the Pentagon, advising the Chief of Naval Operations on security and foreign policy trends in the Indo-Pacific, focusing on Chinese naval and gray zone warfare capabilities. Earlier this year, Kristin testified on China’s overseas military diplomacy and its implications for American interests at a hearing convened by the US Economic and Security Review Commission. 

Timestamps

[02:20] Introduction to Military Diplomacy

[04:36] Three Objectives of Chinese Military Diplomacy

[06:15] China’s Regions of Interest

[08:48] Gauging the Success of China’s Military

[11:46] Beijing’s Broader Geo-Political Strategy

[13:47] Challenges Posed to US Interests

[15:53] Military Installations Versus Commercial Ports

[17:20] Potential Chinese Presence in Cambodia 

[19:27] Potential Chinese Presence in Equatorial Guinea 

[21:41] Beijing’s Assessment of their Military Diplomacy

[23:33] Recommendations for a US Response

Valerie Browning moved to the northern deserts of Ethiopia as a naive young nurse in 1973. A chance meeting on the streets of neighbouring Djibouti changed her life, and women's health in the region

What does it take to fulfil your dream of travelling from the lowest to the highest point in Africa?

In January 2011, Kyle Henning left the shores of Lake Assal, Djibouti (508 feet below sea level), destined for the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (19,341 feet above sea level). For sixty-eight days, he travelled by bicycle and on foot to connect the lowest point on the African continent to the summit of its highest mountain, following the Great Rift Valley from the Afar Depression through the Horn of Africa. Traveling alone after finishing his Peace Corps service, he faced the physical demands of cycling through four countries, growing uncertainty as the Arab Spring gripped the continent, and the effects of his own post-traumatic stress from four intense years of working in crisis/disaster management in the USA and his international work in the Peace Corps.  

We also discuss how his 10-year-old beginner mountain bike stood up to the harsh road and weather conditions, the kit he took, how he made provisions for water and food, and some of the hair-raising experiences he had cycling including being chased by a local woman with a seven feet spear, before being met with the ultimate challenge: climbing Mount Kilimanjaro!

Kyle Henning was worn in Buffalo, New York, USA, and has spent part of his career working in the Peace Corps service and has recently returned to Washington after being based in South America for the Department of State.  You can follow Kyle on Instagram at @FromAfarBook or email him at FromAfarBook@gmail.com

Other Links: 

"From Afar" by Kyle Henning is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats:

• https://www.amazon.com/Afar-human-powered-adventure-continent-mountain-ebook/dp/B0946CXP7Q 

 100% of profits from sales of "From Afar" go to two charities: 

• New Day Children's Centre, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia: https://ndccethiopia.org.uk/ 
• AmeriCorps Saint Louis Emergency Response Team: https://www.americorps-stl.org/ 

Production (for this episode)
Creator, producer, writer, host: Ruth Millington
Music credit: Epic Orchestra - Blockbuster Adventure Music by JuliusH 
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Shake, shake, shake. Shake Djibouti. Ok, we get it. It has "booty" in the name and that won't stop us from making that joke over and over! It's kind of hard not to. 

On this crazy episode, we are joined by guest host Champagne Shane! Djibouti is the third smallest country in Africa and is very strategic. It's located right by the Red Sea and the Gulf Aden so a lot of ships pass by here and a lot of world militaries are located there. We get into why this place is so strategic, the best strategy/board games, chewing khat and more!

We also talk briefly about Djibouti too, if that's your thing. 

Find out about these crazy facts and more in the latest episode of CountryBoyz!!!

Within international relations theory and foreign policy circles, there is considerable interest in understanding China’s rise to power. In an exciting new book, my guest argues that China’s various types of encounters with countries in the Global South are very different from the behaviour and investment strategies of the US and European countries. 

In Shaping the future of power: Knowledge Production and network-building in China-Africa Relations, Lina Benabdallah explores the integrated roles of social relations, knowledge production and power in China’s foreign relations. 

She argues that it is simply not enough to look at the amount of loans, aid and foreign direct investments originating from China. While these material factors are important, we mustn’t ignore the investments made in people-to-people relations and human resource development in China-Africa relations. Indeed, relations and relationality are central to China’s foreign policy and diplomatic conduct. 

In the book, Lina examines how China deploys social capital and relational productive power on the African continent through knowledge production via human resource development and professionalization programs. Chinese investments in human resource development, she argues, expand Beijing’s network of connections with military officers, civil servants, journalists and regular citizens. They also act as spaces for expert knowledge production, and norm diffusion.

Lina Benabdallah is an assistant professor of politics and international affairs at Wake Forest University in the United States. We discussed how China brands its model of development in Africa, the broad categories of knowledge production and network building activities, and whether African countries have much say in how these relations are conducted.

• Lina Benabdallah on Twitter
• Dan Banik and In Pursuit of Development on Twitter

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