Strategic Peril: Former Pentagon Official Warns of Chinese Surveillance Hub Proximity to U.S. Base in Djibouti

Beijing has converted the Red Sea into a formidable surveillance platform, according to a former Pentagon official. This follows a recent report detailing upgrades to China’s military presence just six miles from a critical $66 million-per-year U.S. base in Djibouti, Africa.

A report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) highlighted new installations that could allow the Chinese military to monitor nearby foreign military activities. However, the report noted that it could not definitively confirm whether China is actively intercepting communications.

These developments could escalate tensions between the U.S. and China ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s upcoming White House visit on September 24, a defense expert told Fox News Digital. Beijing’s intelligence-gathering operations are currently under intense scrutiny.

“It is evident that China is constructing eavesdropping capabilities; that appears to be their objective,” stated Morgan Murphy, a former Trump White House official and press secretary for Secretary of Defense Mark Esper during Trump’s first term.

Murphy emphasized that China’s decision to place its sole overseas base six miles from the American base in Djibouti is highly significant. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

“Beijing has clearly wiretapped the Red Sea. Constructing a 30-meter-wide satellite dish and concealing it under a dome so its targeting cannot be seen clearly indicates malicious intent,” Murphy added, praising CSIS by saying, “the specificity here reflects the thorough research we expect out of CSIS.”

The report identifies a large southeastern facility containing a control building, three 30-meter dipole antennas for high-frequency communications, two smaller antennas for very and “ultra-high frequencies,” three mobile satellite dishes, four probable 5G towers, and what CSIS described as a “radome” covering an unidentified asset.

CSIS also pointed out two new communications facilities that have emerged since 2024, likely forming part of a C4ISR command architecture. This expansion enhances China’s capacity to intercept signals, track naval movements, and communicate with Beijing while monitoring foreign militaries in the region.

According to the report, these facilities would give China “a much more robust picture of the operating environment in the region.”

CSIS reported that commercial satellite imagery showed China’s military installing new antennas, satellite communications equipment, and signals intelligence assets at its Djibouti base—the country’s only formally acknowledged overseas military installation. (Planet Labs / Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS))

“This is not a supply depot; it is a prime vantage point overlooking America’s power projection and the U.S. Navy,” Murphy remarked. He noted that the U.S. maintains “128 bases in more than 51 countries—China has just one.”

“But consider the location—just miles from Camp Lemonnier, overlooking the choke point that handles roughly a sixth of global sea trade. Great powers do not plant listening posts next to rival fleets merely for ‘logistics,'” he warned.

“Britain held Gibraltar to monitor who entered the Mediterranean, and Japan’s island radios preceded its runways. The Soviets’ overseas sites were never just about fuel, and Beijing is running that same playbook on the Red Sea,” Murphy added.

Although Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jian stated that China is “unaware of the specific situation” and characterized the nation as a “builder of international peace,” the new facilities provide Beijing with a comprehensive view of regional operations, according to Reuters.

Former Pentagon officials warned that Beijing has transformed the Red Sea into a surveillance hub after a new report revealed upgrades to China’s military footprint in Djibouti. (DAPHNE BENOIT/AFP via Getty Images)

“The new report helps frame the conversation, and it arrives at an awkward time for China because Xi Jinping is visiting the White House on the 24th of this month,” Murphy said.

“I would bet a box of donuts that this issue comes up. There will be public exposure of this, which Chinese leadership is not accustomed to. They are not used to being asked tough questions by the press,” he said.

President Donald Trump recently addressed Chinese intelligence efforts aboard Air Force One, acknowledging that China “spies on us” just as “we spy on them.”

Trump’s comments followed a Wall Street Journal report linking support from a Chinese entity to high-resolution satellite imagery used by Iran prior to a deadly missile attack on U.S. troops in Jordan.

“They basically do what we do,” Trump noted, adding that “Xi has behaved reasonably well, and we behave reasonably well… You know what they say? That China spies on us. I say you’re right, and we spy on them, too,” according to Reuters.

President Donald Trump greets Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of a bilateral meeting at Gimhae Air Base on Oct. 30, 2025, in Busan, South Korea. Trump stated he wants to keep the Strait of Hormuz open in the Middle East for countries, including China. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Murphy observed, “Nations spy on each other—allies and adversaries alike.”

“It is a very old playbook, and listening posts worldwide are typical of great powers, but the critical issue is when you attempt to use that information,” he said, adding that China may “keep tabs on us, but they cannot project power like the United States can.”

The proximity of China’s facility to U.S. operations is a major concern. Situated less than six miles from Camp Lemonnier—the primary U.S. counterterrorism hub in Africa—and near French, Italian, and Japanese installations, the site has a history of friction with U.S. forces.

“We are just around the corner from China, and yet it is not a cooperative relationship,” Murphy explained.

“Back in 2018, they lasered the eyes of two of our C-130 pilots, who suffered lasting damage from that incident. Beijing denied it, of course, but we know the truth,” Murphy stated.

U.S. military aircraft are seen at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, the only permanent United States military base in Africa. (Getty Images)

During the 2018 incident, the Pentagon formally complained to China after military-grade lasers were pointed at American pilots attempting to land at Camp Lemonnier, causing minor injuries.

While Beijing dismissed the allegations as “groundless accusations,” the confrontation underscored the potential for friction between military forces operating from nearby bases.

“China has one overseas base. The United States has more than 128—and by some counts, over 700 installations around the world,” Murphy said.

“Thus, it is significant that China has chosen to place its only overseas base six miles from ours in Djibouti. It is hugely strategically important, which is why, of course, we are there.”

Images reveal that the northwest facility at the Chinese base in Djibouti features a possible communications building and a “radome” housing an unidentified asset. (Planet Labs / Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS))

“It is our only base on the continent of Africa,” he said, noting that it shares a “parking lot” with Japanese and Italian bases.

“At $66 million a year, it is the best money Americans spend on our defense budget, full stop.”

The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is a crucial choke point for nearly 16% of global maritime trade. With significant crude shipments, Houthi attacks, and pipeline disruptions, the region has seen a military buildup.

“Chinese interference is in their strategic interest. They do not want to see the United States control their oil supply,” Murphy said.

“China is far more reliant on Middle Eastern oil than the United States. China imports a large portion—around 33% or more—of its daily oil needs and relies heavily on long sea lines. You are seeing this muscle-flexing because they are far more reliant on Middle Eastern oil than we are,” Murphy added.

Satellite imagery shows the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key shipping waterway and the gateway to the Red Sea, as Iran threatens to use Yemen’s Houthi allies to shut the Bab el-Mandeb gateway to the Red Sea, in a handout picture dated July 12, 2026. (NASA Worldview/Handout via Reuters)

“Having intelligence is one thing, but you must have the ability to act on it. You need assets in the region,” Murphy said.

“China does not have major combat assets outside its region because it lacks a blue-water navy to project power beyond the first island chain yet.”

“That is coming, and they are working towards it quickly. Americans can take comfort in the fact that they do not possess that capacity today, but we must remain alert because the only thing that subdues a threat is a ready posture,” he concluded.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Chinese Embassy for comment.

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