KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 28): China has secured a significant stake in a network of global ports that are central to world trade and freedom of navigation.

In a report earlier this month, the Washington Post said although the stated goal of the investments was commercial, the US and its allies had grown increasingly concerned about the potential military implications.

The report said China’s ambitious sea route runs south from the coast of China through the major transit route of the Indian Ocean and the busiest maritime choke points of the Middle East, ending up in Europe.

The Post said China owns or operates ports and terminals at nearly 100 locations in over 50 countries, spanning every ocean and every continent.

Many are located along some of the world’s most strategic waterways, it said.

The majority of the investments have been made by companies owned by the Chinese government, effectively making Beijing and the Chinese Communist Party the biggest operator of the ports that lie at the heart of global supply chains.

Citing analysts, the report said the expansion is critical to China’s economic power and had significant military implications as well.

“This is not coincidental,” said Carol Evans, a director of the Strategic Studies Institute of the US Army War College.

“I firmly believe there is a strategic aspect to the particular ports they are targeting for investment.”

The stated aim of this maritime network is commercial — to enhance and streamline China’s access to worldwide markets.

In 2018, China expanded its maritime footprint at the Khalifa port in the United Arab Emirates, an important connector between Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Chinese state-owned Cosco Shipping built a commercial container terminal at the port, which it now operates.

The investments go beyond that.

They give Beijing a window into the business dealings of competitors, and could be used to help China defend its supply routes, spy on US military movements, and potentially engage US shipping, according to analysts.

Chinese-owned ports or terminals are already ports of call for Chinese warships, such as the flotilla that entered the Nigerian port of Lagos in July.

The Post said that in late 2015, China acknowledged that it was building a military base adjacent to the Chinese-operated port of Djibouti.

The African base was officially opened in 2017, only six miles away from a US military base in the country.

Located at the narrow entrance to the Red Sea, Djibouti is on one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, where about 10% of global oil exports and 20% of commercial goods pass through the narrow strait to and from the Suez Canal.

While Beijing is decades away from matching the US military presence worldwide, China has the biggest and fastest-growing navy in the world, and it is increasingly venturing beyond the shores of eastern Asia.

From having no naval presence in the Indian Ocean two decades ago, for instance, China now maintains six to eight warships in the region at any given time.