China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) proceeded to its first military exercises in Djibouti on September 25, 2017, opex360, a website specialized in military news related. The news was originally announced on CCTV, a Chinese broadcasting channel.

The exercises featured armored vehicles and dozens of Chinese soldiers. They aimed to “boost the toughness in combat and mastery of military skills” of the PLA soldiers at the Chinese military base in Djibouti. They also aimed to test their resilience under extreme heat conditions.

“This is the first time soldiers stationed at Djibouti leave their camp for live fire exercises,” said Liang Yang, the base commander, noting that the exercises also aimed to “explore new training strategies”.

Interviewed by South Morning China Post, Li Jie, a Chinese military expert, maintained that the PLA troops in Djibouti “must be able to protect themselves and resist any terrorist, pirates, local or international troops'”.

As a reminder, China inaugurated its first permanent external military base, in Djibouti, in August, this year, after its construction, which took about a year, was completed.

The base is officially a logistic support for Chinese naval operations in the Indian Ocean region and in the Middle East. It also serves as logistic support for PLA troops engaged in UN peacekeeping operations in Africa and, if need be, the troops can be mobilized to evacuate Chinese nationals in the region.

The PLA troops in the Chinese base should in the long term, regroup a total of 10,000 soldiers.