General Stephen Townsend, the head of the United States Military Command for Africa (AFRICOM), made a speech in the House of Representatives in Washington in April in which he spoke of the massive investments made by China in East Africa in its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Beijing is also very active diplomatically in the region, as illustrated by Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi's visit earlier this year to Eritrea, Kenya and the Comoros.
More worrying for Townsend and the US military staff are
