AFRICA/CHINA/MILITARY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Chinese military personnel are targeting American flight crews in the skies over the east African nation of Djibouti using a high-powered laser in what amounts to a new show of Chinese harassment of the U.S. military at a time of heightened tensions between the nations, according to Pentagon officials. The incidents bolster longstanding U.S. concerns about China’s decision to establish its first overseas military outpost close to the largest U.S. military base in Africa. The encounters also underscore growing concerns about Beijing’s steady rise as a military power in Asia and elsewhere, including over its construction of fortified artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea…Neither the Chinese embassy in Washington nor China’s Defense Ministry responded to a request for comment. Chinese officials in the past have complained about foreign military reconnaissance planes flying over China’s Djibouti outpost, according to people familiar with the matter.The new signs of military tension also come as U.S.-China economic relations have sunk to their lowest point in decades.”
– Gordon Lubold and Jeremy Page, “Laser From Chinese Base Aimed at U.S. Military Pilots In Africa’s Skies, Pentagon Charges,” The Wall Street Journal, May 3, 2018 9:18 am