This is CBSI in the world. I'm John Batsu with Gordon Chang at Gordon G. Chang, a mystery.

Reuters reporting, Chinese Navy makes rare foray into West Africa with Nigeria visit.

Nigeria, a naval fleet of China's People Liberation Army, led by the destroyer NANI, arrived

in Nigeria for a rare visit by the Chinese military, where Beijing has long made efforts

to grow its influence. We welcome someone whose job for the US Navy and continuing is intelligence

and information operations of the US Pacific Fleet that now retired US Navy Captain James

Phinell, who was also a government fellow at the Geneva Center for Security Policy.

Jim, a very good evening to you. This is follow Captain from prior port calls by China.

Nigeria is a rich and popular state, driven by internal feuds and violence, the jihadists,

the thieves, the gangs, with great natural resources, chiefly oil and energy, and a government

that is not trustworthy. Has China been here before? Good evening to you, Jim.

Good evening, John. Yes, China has been here before. Back in 2018, the 28 PRC Navy

escort task force, a three-shift task force, had visited Ghana and Nigeria five years ago.

They just are now completing this port call in Nigeria right now, a five-day port call that finishes tomorrow when they depart.

They had just come from Ghana, the nation just to the west of Nigeria, and they had conducted a four, five-day

port call in Ghana. And in some of the reporting there, in alluditude that the ships had been operating off the coast of ivory, the ivory coast.

So we have no other reporting except for that in April, the supply ship that's with this task force, a type 903 resupply ship,

about 25,000 ton worship or a supply ship to the other two worships of destroying a frigate, had resupplied in Djibouti.

So my estimate is that they probably took on up to, you know, they can carry up to 10,000 tons of fuel oil and other supplies.

And they loaded themselves up and went through the Red Sea. And then they went through the Mediterranean and then came around the west coast of Africa and down into the Gulf of Guinea,

where they've been operating here for the last 10 days or so. So I think what we're seeing is a resumption that hasn't happened since COVID, which is before COVID,

the Chinese naval escort task forces were coming from mainland China, operating for three months to four months in the Gulf of Aden to escort their ships that were carrying commercial goods to keep them safe from pirates.

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