Defence experts say China's expansion has created a network of potential naval bases capable of landing warships near key maritime routes, such as the Suez Canal (above). Photo / 123RF
China is encircling Africa with strategic ports that can service its warships as part of its strategy to expand its naval and military presence.
Satellite images shared exclusively with the Telegraph show how Beijing has transformed ports across the continent over the past decade – from Lekki in Nigeria to Mombasa in Kenya.
The civilian ports, which are often run by Chinese state-owned firms, are designed not just for trade but also to accommodate warships.
Defence experts warn the expansion has created a network of potential naval bases capable of landing warships near key maritime routes, such as the Suez Canal.
The ports also give Beijing access to critical materials like copper and cobalt – vital for modern technology, ranging from fighter jets to smartphones.
Many of the ports are linked to mines via Chinese-built rail and road projects, supporting China’s race against the United States for high-tech resources.
Control over the ports could allow Chinese agents to monitor goods and sensitive cargo passing through them, analysts warn.
China and the US are competing for global influence, with the oceans emerging as a key theatre of power.
US President Donald Trump is shifting towards “gunboat diplomacy” with a focus on expanding America’s naval capabilities to gain power and control over strategic assets – as he has done with threats to invade Greenland and his seizure of Venezuela’s oil tankers.
Beijing – already equipped with the world’s largest Navy – is doing the same in Africa.
Chinese state-owned firms now operate as builders, financiers or operators at 78 ports across 32 African countries, according to a think-tank linked to the Pentagon.
Satellite images shared by Planet Labs paint a picture of massive Chinese investment and expansion of ports across the continent.
The deep-sea Lekki port in Lagos, Nigeria, has become one of West Africa’s largest ports thanks to £660 million of Chinese investment.
Its huge docks and cranes can take the container-laden behemoths of global maritime trade and handled more than US$9 billion ($15b) of cargo in the first nine months of 2025.
Images show how the site was transformed from a beach and fields into a regional mega-port in just five years.
Lekki, which began operations in 2023, is just one example. Over the past decade, China has been building, upgrading, and running ports across the continent.
The Africa Centre for Strategic Studies (ACSS) found Chinese firms are involved in more than a third of Africa’s commercial ports – a far heavier presence than in Latin America or Asia.
The constellation of China-friendly African ports also fits with Beijing’s ambition to build “sanction-proof” supply lines beyond Western reach that could keep flowing unhindered even if relations with the West deteriorate – for example over Taiwan.
Benedict Hamlyn, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think- tank, said: “This has all been part of a gradual military, strategic encirclement of Africa ... trade, foreign policy influence and military presence suddenly slipped away from the West when it comes to Africa.”
China’s expertise, low costs and business-like attitude to development have made it a favourite partner for African nations wanting to build infrastructure and grow trade.
Not only does Beijing now have an imposing head start in the scramble for sought-after critical resources, but it also has a network of potential naval bases for the future, analysts warned.
The ports in Lekki, Luanda in Angola, Mombasa, Walvis Bay in Namibia, Victoria in the Seychelles, and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, could eventually be used by the Chinese military, according to an ACSS paper published last year.
Chinese strategists have talked of overseas or maritime “strategic strong points” as part of their naval ambitions. Many of the ports across Africa have been built to dimensions allowing them to accommodate Chinese warships as well as civilian vessels.
Hamlyn said: “They build these ports so they can get access to the raw materials within Africa, but in lots of cases, they very cleverly built them to dual use specificity ... useful in peace time to land destroyers, refuelling tankers and have a maritime logistical presence.”
Chinese warships are already regular visitors to African shores, for example taking part in naval manoeuvres off Cape Town last month as part of the Brics group (with Russia, Iran and South Africa).
While the ports would be “sitting ducks” in wartime, they significantly extend the operational range of the Chinese Navy across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
Hamlyn said: “China wants to rival the US, not necessarily be an enemy, but it wants to rival the US. In order to do that it has to be present, and having [People’s Liberation Army] Navy ships around these places helps them fly the flag, look like a major player and set the agenda.”
China already has a naval logistics base at Doraleh in Djibouti, near the Suez Canal. Being heavily embedded in the commercial ports’ infrastructure and running can also give China an advantage, even if those ports are also used by other nations and civilian traffic.
Chinese state-owned firms might be able to see and track everything that passed through that port, Hamlyn suggested.
The ACSS suggested Chinese state-owned firms would not only earn from trade passing through the ports but could also use their influence to control access.
The centre said: “The operator determines the allocation of piers, accepts or denies port calls, and can offer preferential rates and services for its nation’s vessels and cargo.
“Control over port operations by an external actor, accordingly, raises obvious sovereignty and security concerns. This is why some countries forbid foreign port operators on national security grounds.”
Similar fears about Beijing’s maritime influence in Latin America have moved Trump to say he wants to wrest control of ports at either end of the Panama Canal away from Chinese investors.
Those fears have been dismissed by Beijing, which says speculation about the threat posed by Chinese ports is “groundless”.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that the US framing of China’s port ambitions is aimed at “smearing and disrupting China’s economic and trade co-operation with other countries”.
Last week, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited Beijing with UK business leaders, vowing to remain “clear-eyed and realistic” about China’s national security ambitions while rebooting trade ties.
And the Pentagon said it no longer views rivalry with China as its top priority, a significant shift in US global strategy.
Trump also convened a critical minerals summit this week as the US tries to catch up with China in securing access to high-tech resources.
Hamlyn said the ports across Africa have given Beijing a significant strategic edge in its competition with the West.
China’s greatest ambition with its port operations in Africa, which are closely linked to railway building projects, may be to build itself supply lines outside Western markets, he said.
These would be sanction-proof in the event of any future geopolitical clash with the West. International sanctions are likely to be the West’s biggest stick in the event of any such flare-up.
However, Chinese officials have reportedly been impressed with how Russian President Vladimir Putin has been able to fortify his economy to keep it running despite heavy sanctions after his invasion of Ukraine.
Hamlyn added: “The ultimate goal is to ensure that if the US and other countries cease or begin to strongly limit co-operation, China’s supply chain resilience is already in place.”
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