China may set up next foreign military port in Sri Lanka

The Vian Vong 5, which China calls a research and survey ship, arrived at Sri Lanka's Hambantota port on August 16, 2022.

Sri Lanka's Hambantota Port is likely to be the site of China's next overseas military port, after Beijing invested $2.19 billion there, Bloomberg News reported on July 28, citing an analysis by the AidData Project at the College of William & Mary in Virginia (USA).

Besides Sri Lanka, locations in Equatorial Guinea, Pakistan and Cameroon are also on the list of locations that China is considering building bases in the next 2 to 5 years.

“China’s largest port investment to date is Hambantota Port, and Beijing directly manages this infrastructure,” AidData said in the report.

In recent years, China has become the world's largest navy by number of warships. Its construction and engineering companies have been busy completing port projects around the world.

AidData data shows that Beijing provided nearly $30 billion in loans and subsidies between 2000 and 2021 to build or expand 78 ports in 46 countries.

To date, China has established only one overseas military port in the East African nation of Djibouti. AidData said China spent $466 million in Djibouti between 2000 and 2021.

Sri Lanka’s leaders have said they will not allow Hambantota port to host foreign armed forces. However, a Chinese consortium has effectively taken control of the port under a contract since 2017 after Sri Lanka defaulted on the loan it took to build the port.

Also according to AidData analysis, the port city of Bata in Equatorial Guinea, second only to Hambantota, could become a Chinese military port, after Beijing spent $659 million to build a port there.

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