Ex-Pentagon Official: China Wiretapped Red Sea Near US Base

Beijing has turned the Red Sea into a potentially dangerous surveillance center, a former Pentagon official said Sunday, following a new report detailing upgrades to China’s military presence just six miles from the $66 million-a-year U.S. military base in Djibouti, Africa.

The report from the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) identified new infrastructure that could allow China’s military to track the activities of other armed forces operating in the area. The think tank cautioned, however, that the available evidence does not establish whether Chinese forces are actively intercepting communications.

One defense expert told News Media that the developments could add new strain to U.S.-China relations ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s scheduled visit to the White House on Sept. 24. Beijing’s intelligence-gathering operations are already facing renewed scrutiny.

“China is clearly developing eavesdropping capabilities. That appears to be the objective,” said Morgan Murphy, a former Trump White House official who served as press secretary to Mark Esper while Esper was secretary of defense during the first Trump administration.

“Beijing has clearly wiretapped the Red Sea. When a country constructs a 30-meter, or roughly 100-foot-wide, satellite dish and places it under a dome to conceal its direction, it’s pretty clear that something suspicious is taking place,” Murphy said. He added that “the specificity here reflects the thorough research we expect out of CSIS,” the Washington-based think tank.

The report identifies a large southeastern facility containing a control building, three 30-meter dipole antennas used for high-frequency communications, two smaller antennas for very high and “ultra-high” frequencies, three mobile satellite dishes, four suspected 5G towers and a “radome” that covers an unidentified piece of equipment, according to CSIS.

CSIS also pointed to two communications facilities that have appeared since 2024. The sites are likely components of a C4ISR command network, which could expand China’s ability to collect signals, monitor naval movements and communicate with Beijing while observing foreign military forces in the region.

The new infrastructure would give China “a much more robust picture of the operating environment in the region,” the report said.

“This isn’t a supply depot—it’s a 50-yard-line seat overlooking America’s power projection and the U.S. Navy,” Murphy said. He noted that the United States has “128 bases in more than 51 countries,” while China has only one overseas military base.

“But consider the location: just a few miles from Camp Lemonnier and overlooking the choke point through which roughly one-sixth of global maritime trade passes,” he said. “Great powers do not establish listening posts next to rival fleets merely for ‘logistics.’”

“Britain held Gibraltar to monitor who entered the Mediterranean, while Japan’s island radio stations came before its airstrips. Soviet overseas facilities were never simply about fuel, and Beijing is following that same playbook in the Red Sea,” Murphy added.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jian said Beijing was “unaware of the specific situation” and portrayed the country as a “builder of international peace.” However, the new facilities give China a clearer view of military operations across the region, according to Reuters.

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

“I’d bet a box of donuts that this issue comes up. It will be publicly exposed, and Chinese leaders are not accustomed to that. They are not used to facing difficult questions from the press,” he said.

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

Trump’s remarks came after The Wall Street Journal reported that a Chinese entity had provided support connected to high-resolution satellite imagery used by Iran before a deadly missile attack on U.S. troops in Jordan.

“They basically do what we do,” Trump said, 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.

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

“It is a very old playbook, and listening posts all over the world are typical of great powers, but where the metal hits the floorboard is when you try to use that information,” he said before 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 core concern. Located 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 right around the corner from China, and yet it’s not a cooperative relationship,” Murphy explained.

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

During the 2018 incident, the Pentagon had 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 — by some counts, over 700 installations around the world,” Murphy said.

“So it’s 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’re there.”

“It’s 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’s the best money Americans spend on our defense budget, full stop.”

The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is a choke point for nearly 16% of global maritime trade and, with significant crude shipments, Houthi attacks and pipeline disruptions have fueled a regional military buildup.

“Interference by China is in their strategic interest. They don’t want to see the United States able to control their oil supply,” Murphy said.

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

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

“China doesn’t have major combat assets outside their region because they lack a blue-water navy to project power outside the first island chain yet.

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

News Media has reached out to the Chinese Embassy for comment.