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THE DISCORD LEAKS | The activity has disturbed some U.S. officials, who worry a longstanding U.S. ally is growing too close to Beijing..
American spy services detected construction at a suspected Chinese military facility in the United Arab Emirates in December — one year after Washington’s oil-rich ally announced it was halting the project because of U.S. concerns, according to top-secret intelligence documents obtained by The Washington Post..Activities at a port near Abu Dhabi are among several developments in the UAE involving the Chinese military that U.S. intelligence is monitoring out of concern that the Emiratis — a longtime U.S. security partner — are developing closer security ties to China at the expense of U.S. interests, according to the documents and related interviews with senior Biden administration officials. Sightings of Chinese military personnel around other sensitive construction sites have also disturbed U.S. officials.
Beijing’s efforts in the UAE are part of an ambitious campaign by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to build a global military network that includes at least five overseas bases and 10 logistical support sites by 2030, says one of the documents, which features a map of other planned facilities in the Middle East and Southeast Asia and throughout Africa..Chinese military officials call the initiative “Project 141,” the leaked materials say.
The Post obtained the classified documents, which have not been previously reported, from a trove of intelligence material leaked onto the Discord messaging platform. The disclosures, including details about Beijing’s aerial surveillance program and plans to develop supersonic drones, come at a time of heightened tensions between the United States and China as both countries vie for global influence and resources.
The level of concern about China’s actions in the UAE varies among U.S. officials, with some viewing the development as manageable and others seeing a significant threat that warrants more forceful pressure from the United States. There is also a lack of consensus about whether the UAE has made a strategic decision to deeply align with China or maintain a balancing act that includes the United States, its longtime protector.
.There are some people in the administration who think the UAE has fundamentally decided to work with us. I do not believe that,” said a senior administration official, who like others interviewed for this report spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive security matter.
The UAE’s leaders “think that China is hugely important right now and rising in the Middle East,”.
The revelations coincide with China’s quest to expand its role as a global player — mediating a rapprochement between arch-nemeses Saudi Arabia and Iran last month and putting forward a 12-point peace plan in February to resolve the war in Ukraine. The Middle East has become a particular focal point of U.S.-China competition as Beijing strikes trade deals and forges closer political ties in a region previously dominated by the United States.
A UAE representative, alluding to the FBI’s arrest of a suspect in the leak case, declined to answer questions about the intelligence documents, saying that “our policy is not to comment on out-of-context material purported to have been criminally obtained.”
A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, said U.S. concerns about China’s military facilities abroad are misplaced.
“As a principle, China conducts normal law enforcement and security cooperation with other countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit,” Liu said.
“The U.S. runs more than 800 overseas military bases, which has caused concern by many countries around the world. It is in no position to criticize other countries,” he added.
U.S. officials insist they will not allow a Chinese base to become operational in the UAE, saying that such a facility would jeopardize sensitive U.S. military activities in the Middle East.“
UAE is a close partner, and we are regularly engaged with its senior leadership on a number of regional and global matters,” a second senior administration official said. This person said there were “no current indications” a Chinese base would be completed without a significant uptick in activity that would be noticeable.
U.S. officials are particularly focused on the Khalifa Port, about 50 miles north of the capital, where a Chinese shipping conglomerate operates. In December 2021, the UAE announced that it halted Chinese construction at that facility after U.S. officials argued that Beijing intended to use it for military purposes.
“We stopped the work on the facilities,” Anwar Gargash, a diplomatic adviser to the UAE’s leadership, said at a Washington think tank event as the country faced public pressure to address a Wall Street Journal article detailing China’s activities.
But a year later, the PLA facility “likely was connected to municipal power and water” and “a walled perimeter was completed for a PLA logistics storage site,” one of the leaked U.S. intelligence documents says. A second document warns that “the PLA facility” is “a major part” of Beijing’s plan to establish a military base in the UAE.
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美國情報指出UAE.的哈里發港（Khalifa Port）部份碼頭區,已經租賃給予中國,建設成為軍事基地已經接近竣工.
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美國情報密件指稱,北京在阿聯的工作是中國人民解放軍海外投射計畫的一環,盼在2030年底前建成全球軍事網絡,包含至少5個海外基地及10個後勤援據點,密件在地圖標出中國海軍計畫中的海外設施位於中東,東南亞及非洲東西兩岸。
密件指共軍官員將打造海外基地網絡的方略稱為「141計畫」（Project 141）。美國官員尤其關注位於阿布達比以北約80公里的哈里發港（Khalifa Port）,一家中國航運集團在當地運營。2021年12月在美方官員聲稱北京希望將當地用於軍事用途後,阿聯宣布停止中國在哈里發港建設。
2023中國海軍使用阿拉伯聯合大公國當地港口設施「很可能已連上市政府的水電」,且「一處共軍後勤倉庫的圍墻已建成」。密件警告這處設施是北京在阿聯建立軍事基地計畫的「關鍵組成」
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