BEIJING ¨C Ships carrying Chinese military personnel for Beijing¡¯s first overseas military base, in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, have left China to begin setting up the facility as China¡¯s rapidly modernizing military hones its global reach.
Djibouti¡¯s position on the northwestern edge of the Indian Ocean has fueled worries in India that it would become another of China¡¯s ¡°string of pearls¡± of military alliances and assets ringing India, including Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
China began construction of a logistics base in strategically located Djibouti last year that will resupply naval vessels taking part in peacekeeping and humanitarian missions off the coasts of Yemen and Somalia, in particular.
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