PLA Support Base in Djibouti (中国人民解放军驻吉布提保障基地)

The People's Liberation Army Support Base in Djibouti is the logistics and support installation of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) in the Horn of Africa, and the PLAN's only official overseas base. It lies beside the Chinese-operated container terminal at Doraleh, west of Djibouti City, on the Gulf of Tadjoura approaches to the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, which separates the Gulf of Aden from the Red Sea and controls the southern approach to the Suez Canal. The base falls under the Central Military Commission and is operated by the PLAN. Other foreign installations lie south of the city, among them Camp Lemonnier, Base Aérienne 188 and the Japan Self-Defense Force Base Djibouti.

The base supports the PLAN escort task forces operating in the Gulf of Aden and off Somalia on anti-piracy deployments, providing replenishment, repair and rest for ships and crews rather than a permanently homeported squadron. Assigned tasks also include intelligence collection, non-combatant evacuation, peacekeeping support and counterterrorism, and it gives PLAN units access to the Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean. Chinese official terminology describes it as a support or logistics facility rather than a naval base. The garrison numbers between 1,000 and 2,000 naval personnel; as of 2017 the commander was Liang Yang.

The fortified compound covers 0.5 km2 and includes some 23,000 m2 of underground space. A pier of some 330 m completed in December 2019 can accommodate the PLAN's aircraft carriers and other large surface combatants, or nuclear-powered submarines. Satellite imagery has indicated work on a further pier or quay. Air facilities comprise a 400 m runway with a control tower and a helicopter apron. The PLA Support Base Hospital in Djibouti is located on site.

Negotiations with Djibouti began around 2015 and concluded in January 2016, with construction starting in March of that year at a reported cost of US$590 million. Ships of the South Sea Fleet sailed from Zhanjiang on 11 July 2017 to establish the garrison, and the base was formally opened on 1 August 2017. Pier construction from 2018 onward extended it to handle the navy's largest units.