Inside the U.S. Strategy to Counter China’s Booming Network of Ports – WSJ

WSJ looks at Beijing’s global network of ports and how the U.S. has worked to stop its expansion in key areas around the world.

While the US has been busy building military bases around the globe, China has been building, developing and operating commercial ports. Chinese firms have spent billions of dollars operating and developing ports from the Americas to Africa. Compared to China’s 95 overseas shipping ports, the US does not have a single one overseas.

Instead, according to researcher David Vine, professor of anthropology at American University and co-founder of the Overseas Base Realignment and Closure Coalition, the US operates over 750 military bases all over the world. China has only one military base in Djibouti and some militarized islands in the South China Sea.

Can US diplomats convince the world that security concerns outweigh the benefits of Chinese commercial investments?