China’s hospital ships project a different kind of naval power in Africa

When the Auspicious Ark entered Dakar, Senegal, on September 25, the scene looked closer to a public health mission than a naval deployment.

Senegalese people and members of the Chinese community were waiting at the port as the vessel arrived for the first visit by a Chinese naval hospital ship to Senegal. The Auspicious Ark is a PLA Navy vessel. That places the visit within a wider Chinese maritime presence in…