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17 May 2022

Must-Read in International Security! “Pier Competitor: China’s Power Position in Global Ports”

Isaac Kardon and Wendy Leutert

China is a leader in the global transportation industry, with an especially significant position in ocean ports. A mapping of every ocean port outside of China reveals that Chinese firms own or operate terminal assets in ninety-six ports in fifty-three countries. An original dataset of Chinese firms’ overseas port holdings documents the geographic distribution, ownership, and operational characteristics of these ports. What are the international security implications of China’s global port expansion? An investigation of Chinese firms’ ties to the Party-state reveals multiple mechanisms by which the Chinese leadership may direct the use of commercial port assets for strategic purposes. International port terminals that Chinese firms own and operate already provide dual-use capabilities to the People’s Liberation Army during peacetime, establishing logistics and intelligence networks that materially enable China to project power into critical regions worldwide. But this form of networked state power is limited in wartime because it depends on commercial facilities in non-allied states. By providing evidence that overseas bases are not the sole index of global power projection capabilities, findings advance research on the identification and measurement of sources of national power. China’s leveraging of PRC firms’ transnational commercial port network constitutes an underappreciated but consequential form of state power projection.

On August 16, 2019, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type-052C destroyer Xi’an steamed into Egypt’s main port of Alexandria for a four-day technical stop.1 The Chinese warship berthed at a terminal that is operated and majority (over 80 percent) owned by two Chinese firms: the privately owned, Hong Kong-based Hutchison Ports, and the state-owned Shenzhen Yantai Port Group. With a People’s Republic of China (PRC) flag flying over the terminal, the Chinese sailors received a warm welcome from the PRC ambassador to Egypt, a throng of PRC citizens, and the Egyptian Navy commander of the adjacent Alexandria naval base. The PLAN destroyer then underwent specialized repairs at the large dry dock on site, loaded supplies and equipment, and replenished its fuel and stores.2

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