Recently, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is going to Tanzania to participate in the "Peace and Unity 2024" joint exercise.
In recent years, as China and Africa have become closer and closer in the field of economic and security cooperation, it is not uncommon for China to participate in joint exercises with African countries. In May this year, the PLA Xuchang ship had just visited Nigeria and participated in the exercise. This time, however, things are a little different in Tanzania. Because according to CCTV news, this time the PLA Navy dispatched one 052D and two 071 ships. Such a configuration, if you add a 075, is basically a complete amphibious strike group, in terms of scale, both displacement and firepower, it is quite "saturated", giving Tanzania enough face.
As we all know, China is different from the United States, a country that pulls aircraft carriers all over the world as a "Pacific policeman" and flexes its muscles everywhere, and never likes to show off its force for no reason. There must be a reason for such a big disturbance this time.
And the reason for this, just look at the map. Tanzania, the joint exercise, is not elsewhere but right next to Kenya, which has recently been in the midst of civil unrest.
There is no doubt that there is a shadow of instigation by the United States behind this civil unrest in Kenya. CNN itself reported that the sisters of former US President Barack Obama personally appeared at the scene to "shout and cheer" for the protest groups. And the motive of the United States in inciting civil strife in Kenya is very simple, that is, it wants to find a new foothold for its troops in Africa.
Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, as Russia has become more and more active in seeking security cooperation with African countries, the US military has been driven out of its locations by the governments of Chad and Niger one after another. According to the Pentagon, the military bases that the US military worked so hard to repair, such as the air base in Niger, were directly "taken over" by Russia, which is very aggrieved.
The collective "no" to the United States by African countries has made the Pentagon very dissatisfied and holding back a bad stomach. At the same time, it is also to find a new place for this group of thousands of US troops who have been driven out, and the United States is now making trouble all over the African continent, trying to find a new target that can intervene militarily. The civil strife in Kenya, not surprisingly, broke out in this way.
To sum up, the United States is now losing the competition with China and Russia for influence in Africa, but it is unwilling to admit it, so it is making trouble everywhere, wanting to disturb Africa and taking the opportunity to seek a turnaround.
Under such circumstances, China naturally cannot sit idly by. African countries not only have a large amount of abundant untapped resources, but they are also markets that China is very optimistic about. The United States and the West are just a mess within themselves, and if they want to drag the third world into the water, China will never agree. At the same time, China is also very clear that for the current United States, it will not listen to the other side if it is reasonable in a good voice, and the current Biden administration can only understand the language of "big sticks".
That being the case, China will be able to deal with the United States in a language that the United States can understand. A quasi-amphibious strike group is China's heavy warning to the United States and a commitment to maintaining peace and stability in Africa. We have reason to believe that after the conclusion of this round of the "Peace and Solidarity 2024" exercise, the economic and military cooperation between China and Africa will most likely reach a higher level.