“Peace Unity-2024”: How is China Seeking to Strengthen Its Long-Term Presence in East Africa?
In line with China’s significant prioritization of the East African region within its broader strategy toward the African continent, the Chinese armed forces have begun joint military exercises with their counterparts in Tanzania and Mozambique, both located in East Africa. These exercises, under the banner of “Peace Unity-2024,” are being conducted from July 28 to August 15, 2024. The main goals are to enhance the capabilities of the three countries’ forces in conducting land and maritime counterterrorism operations, to deepen mutual trust, and to strengthen practical military cooperation to maintain regional peace and stability in East Africa.
Dimensions of the Exercises:
China has strong strategic partnerships with East African countries, particularly Tanzania and Mozambique, which have spanned six decades with the former and nearly five decades with the latter. Military cooperation, especially through joint land and maritime exercises, is a significant aspect of these relationships. The key features of the “Peace Unity-2024” exercise among the three countries can be outlined as follows:
Land and Maritime Exercise: The “Peace Unity-2024” exercise includes land and maritime drills involving units from the ground and naval forces of the three countries. The Chinese forces in this exercise consist of two groups of units: the first being land units from the Central Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), comprising the 82nd Group Army, communication and information regiment, a military hospital, as well as assault, reconnaissance, intelligence, special operations, and logistical support elements. The second group includes naval units from the Southern Theater Command of the PLA, with the Chinese navy deploying two Type 071 comprehensive landing ships and a Type 025D guided missile destroyer to Tanzania. The maritime component of the exercise involves joint port defense, counterterrorism tactics, boarding and seizure operations, anti-piracy activities, and joint naval patrols.
Transportation of Chinese Forces: China organized a multi-dimensional cross-border transportation operation to deploy the participating forces to Tanzania via air and sea. Personnel were transported by a Chinese Y-20 strategic transport aircraft, marking the first time the Chinese armed forces have sent complete units to an exercise in Africa using the Y-20. This highlights the PLA’s significant capabilities in long-distance air transportation. Additionally, it is also the first time the PLA has sent Type 071 landing ships to military exercises in Africa, which are large vessels capable of transporting troops and heavy equipment. Experts note that the PLA’s combination of rapid and comfortable personnel transport via strategic aircraft, along with the transportation of heavy equipment on large ships, represents an exemplary approach for a major power to project military forces and equipment to distant theaters.
Fourth Exercise Between China and Tanzania: China has been conducting joint military exercises with Tanzania for over a decade, beginning in 2014. The first exercise took place in Kigamboni, Dar es Salaam, followed by a second one at the Mabenga training center in 2019/2020. The third exercise was held in September 2023, involving a joint marine corps training (Transcend-2023) in Dar es Salaam. The current exercise, hosted at the Mabenga comprehensive training center, is the fourth in the series of joint military exercises between China and Tanzania. While previous exercises were limited to specialized units of the Tanzanian armed forces, this year’s exercises include the participation of major units from the Tanzanian army, including air, naval, ground, and special forces.
Beijing’s Motivations:
China aims to achieve several objectives through the “Peace Unity-2024” exercise with Tanzania and Mozambique, which can be summarized as follows:
Enhancing Security and Stability in East Africa: The East African region faces a turbulent and unstable security environment, with countries like Tanzania and Mozambique grappling with terrorism and extremism. China emphasizes the strategic importance of deepening bilateral military cooperation with countries in the region to achieve shared development and maintain regional stability. One key motivation for Beijing’s focus on this exercise is its contribution to maintaining regional peace and stability in East Africa, which in turn supports the shared interests of China and its regional partners. This helps China solidify its foothold in this strategically important region for its interests in Africa.
Strengthening Military Cooperation: China uses these exercises to deepen military cooperation with Tanzania and Mozambique. Tanzania benefits not only from enhanced military capabilities but also from improved military expertise and operational readiness of its forces. Including all branches of the Tanzanian armed forces in the exercises indicates Tanzania’s desire to leverage its military partnership with China to build a more diverse and capable military force.
Mozambique, for its part, seeks to deepen military cooperation with China to support its efforts in combating terrorist groups in the northern province of Cabo Delgado. This is reflected in Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun’s emphasis on the strategic importance of deepening military cooperation with Mozambique during his meeting with Mozambican Defense Minister Cristóvão Chume in Beijing in late June 2024.
Strengthening Relations with African Armies: China has identified military cooperation and training as key areas of its cooperation with Africa. Professional military training helps strengthen relationships between China and African countries, which in turn expands Beijing’s influence. A study by the United States Institute of Peace noted that the Nanjing Army Command College in China has produced several African defense leaders, including 10 defense ministers and eight defense chiefs, as well as several former presidents, including former Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete.
The college is one of China’s top institutions offering training to an increasing number of African students, making China a major destination for African military professional education. China sees providing training as serving its interests, as it enhances personal relationships and the ability to exert influence in African countries.
Promoting Chinese Equipment and Weapons: China is one of Africa’s key military partners, with a major aspect of this partnership involving Beijing supplying African countries with military equipment and weapons. Following the opening of the exercise, the Chinese side showcased models of Chinese equipment and weapons, including light arms, various types of infantry combat vehicles, assault vehicles, command vehicles, communication vehicles, explosive ordnance disposal vehicles, and drones.
Balancing Indian Naval Presence: India maintains strong naval cooperation with countries in East Africa along the Indian Ocean coast, including Tanzania and Mozambique. In October 2023, during Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s visit to New Delhi, India and Tanzania agreed to strengthen maritime security cooperation in the Indian Ocean region. Indian ships regularly visit Tanzanian ports, and the two countries, along with Mozambique, conducted a trilateral naval exercise in the Mozambique Channel in October 2022.
China’s decision to conduct the “Peace Unity” exercise with Tanzania and Mozambique can be seen as an attempt to balance India’s naval presence in East Africa, amid the intense competition for maritime influence between the two countries in the Indian Ocean region.
Regional and International Contexts:
The “Peace Unity-2024” exercises occurred amidst several regional and international developments involving other international actors competing with China, as well as the global role of the Chinese navy and the volatile security environment in East Africa. These include:
Military Cooperation Between Washington and Tanzania: The arrival of Chinese forces participating in the exercise in Tanzania coincided with security talks between Washington and Dar es Salaam on counterterrorism, particularly regarding the insurgency in neighboring Mozambique. John Bass, Acting Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, emphasized during his visit to Dar es Salaam on July 24 the importance of enhancing the security partnership between the U.S. and Tanzania to address terrorist challenges on Tanzania’s southern border.
This suggests a competition between Washington and Beijing over which can be the preferred security partner for Tanzania in its counterterrorism efforts.
Growing Chinese Naval Deployment: The start of the exercise in Africa coincided with the announcement of China’s involvement in joint military exercises in several other regions around the world. A Chinese military battalion will participate in the multinational peacekeeping exercise “Khan Quest-2024,” hosted by Mongolia in late July 2024.
Two Chinese naval fleets will also participate in celebrations marking the 328th anniversary of the founding of the Russian navy from late July to mid-August. Additionally, Chinese and Russian navies have conducted joint naval patrols in the waters of the western and northern Pacific. Earlier in July, Chinese and Russian navies conducted a training exercise to inspect ships in the Philippine Sea as part of Sino-Russian cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region.
Terrorist Attacks in Mozambique: Mozambique has been plagued by terrorist attacks carried out by armed groups affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS), which have resulted in over 4,000 deaths and displaced approximately 946,000 people since 2017. To address this crisis, Mozambique has deployed forces from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Rwandan forces to help curb the insurgents and prevent further chaos.
While the SADC mission has helped reduce the number of ISIS-affiliated terrorists in Cabo Delgado province from several thousand to a few hundred since its deployment in 2021, the mission’s withdrawal on July 15 has raised concerns about the possible resurgence of terrorism in the region, which could affect China’s economic interests in East Africa.
Trilateral Naval Exercises Between India, Mozambique, and Tanzania: The “Peace Unity-2024” exercise followed the second edition of the “TRILAT-2024” exercise between India, Mozambique, and Tanzania, held from March 21 to 29, 2024, at the ports of Zanzibar in Tanzania and Maputo in Mozambique. The exercise aimed to develop the capability to address common threats through training, sharing best practices, and enhancing maritime cooperation and interoperability among the three countries, as well as improving maritime security in the Indian Ocean region.
Potential Implications:
China has successfully enhanced its role and influence in East Africa by combining its development model with military power projection, a trend likely to continue in the future.
The “Peace Unity-2024” exercise is an important indicator of China’s growing presence in Africa, and it could have several implications for the region:
Consolidating China’s Position in East Africa: The “Peace Unity-2024” exercise indicates China’s desire to consolidate its strategic position in East Africa by deepening its military cooperation with the region’s countries, especially Tanzania and Mozambique. This aligns with Beijing’s broader strategy toward Africa, especially since both countries enjoy strong strategic partnerships with Beijing. The exercise provides Beijing with an opportunity to strengthen these partnerships and increase China’s influence in East Africa, a region that has become crucial for China’s presence in the Indian Ocean and its broader geopolitical interests in Africa.
Expanding China’s Military Influence in the Region: The “Peace Unity-2024” exercise is part of China’s broader strategy to enhance its military influence in East Africa by deepening bilateral military cooperation with countries in the region. Beijing aims to achieve this by training and equipping these countries’ forces with advanced Chinese military equipment and weapons. Additionally, the exercise serves as an opportunity for China to present itself as a key military partner for East African countries, providing them with capabilities to address regional security challenges such as terrorism, piracy, and other transnational threats.
Creating Opportunities for China to Test and Demonstrate Military Capabilities: The exercise allows China to test and demonstrate its military capabilities, particularly in terms of cross-border transportation of personnel and equipment. The deployment of the Y-20 strategic transport aircraft and the Type 071 landing ships underscores China’s ability to project military power over long distances, a capability that is crucial for its broader global ambitions. The exercise also enables China to showcase its military hardware to potential buyers in Africa, further enhancing its role as a key supplier of arms and military equipment to the continent.
Competing with Other International Actors: The exercise is likely to intensify competition between China and other international actors, such as the United States and India, for influence in East Africa. The U.S. and India have their own strategic interests in the region and have been enhancing their military and security cooperation with East African countries. The “Peace Unity-2024” exercise demonstrates China’s determination to maintain its influence in the region and counterbalance the presence of other major powers.
In summary, the “Peace Unity-2024” exercise reflects China’s growing military involvement in East Africa, with a focus on enhancing regional security, deepening military cooperation, and strengthening its strategic position in the region. The exercise also highlights China’s ability to project military power and demonstrates its commitment to maintaining a strong presence in East Africa amidst competition from other international actors.
