(16. November) The deployment of combat troops in Mali and the several efforts employed to solve the South Sudan crisis have pushed China‘s involvement a notch higher and even sparked predictions that going by this rate, China might in the near future even consider an African Command just like the U.S., which boosts of the AFRICOM and the Lemonnier military base in Djibouti.
„I think the most prominent shift in China‘s foreign policy in this regard has been putting boots on the ground through the auspices of the UN- both in Mali and now in South Sudan,“ Dr. Anthony Ross, the interim head for the Center for Chinese Studies (CSS) says.(…)
The deployment of combat troops in Mali and the several efforts employed to solve the South Sudan crisis have pushed China‘s involvement a notch higher and even sparked predictions that going by this rate, China might in the near future even consider an African Command just like the U.S., which boosts of the AFRICOM and the Lemonnier military base in Djibouti.

„I think the most prominent shift in China‘s foreign policy in this regard has been putting boots on the ground through the auspices of the UN- both in Mali and now in South Sudan,“ Dr. Anthony Ross, the interim head for the Center for Chinese Studies (CSS) says.
„China will continue to try and be seen as a benevolent military presence in Africa,“ Ross says, but having a growing interest in securing its investments here will entail that, at some point, they may have to take sides.“