Equatorial Guinea's Ambassador Rejects WSJ Report On China's Plan To Build Military Base

Equatorial Guinean Ambassador to Russia Luciano Nkogo Ndong Ayekaba has dismissed a Wall Street Journal report that claims China is planning to establish its first permanent military base in the Central African nation

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th May, 2023) Equatorial Guinean Ambassador to Russia Luciano Nkogo Ndong Ayekaba has dismissed a Wall Street Journal report that claims China is planning to establish its first permanent military base in the Central African nation.

The report in question, published in 2021, cited unnamed senior US officials as saying that Beijing was mulling a base in the port city of Bata, which already has a Chinese-built commercial port in the Gulf of Guinea.

"Our country is a free state. We are friends with many countries, but there are countries like Russia, like China, which are close friends.

If we are asked, we can discuss this topic, but we have not yet received any official proposals from the Chinese side," the ambassador told Sputnik.

He added that the Western media spread similar reports on Russia and "speak about everything, but the information is inaccurate."

China's only foreign military base is located in Djibouti, a tiny country in the Horn of Africa. The nation is strategically located and has access to the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.