There are discussions that are currently taking place in China regarding the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy building base at Walvis Bay, on the coastal border between Namibia and South Africa in the next ten years. According to reports this will be one of the 18 naval bases built in various regions in Africa and the Chinese government maintains this is to ensure the safety of international maritime routes. The other proposed ports are Lagos in Nigeria, Kenya's Mombasa port and Angola's port of Luanda. To help us analyse the Chinese moves and the reasons for them, we have Helmoed Heitman defence analyst and consultant, Dr Francois Vrey, from the faculty of Military Science at South Africa's University of Stellenbosch, and Tim Walker, Researcher at the Institute for Security Studies.
