Cohabitation is strained between the American and Chinese forces who, with the French, each have a military base adjacent to the port of Djibouti. Indeed, according to American media, US pilots were targeted by lasers coming from the Chinese naval base, while they were flying over it to land at the city's international airport, adjacent to the Lemonier camp, where they deployed American forces. The Chinese authorities, naturally, fiercely deny having carried out any action which would not be in conformity with the agreement signed with the host country.
This is not the first accusation of this type made against the Chinese military operating on this base. In 2018, similar accusations were made by US pilots, and denied by Chinese authorities.
The naval base agreement signed in 2016 between the Chinese authorities and President Ismael Omar Guelleh, took the Americans and their allies by surprise, and they were unable to oppose the entry into service of the base, which took place from month of July 2017. It houses 400 soldiers, has a 400 m runway, and work has been undertaken to build an unloading dock to accommodate imposing buildings, such as the Type071 LPDs in service in the PLA . Many Chinese vessels have stopped there since, notably those assigned to UN anti-piracy missions.
For the moment, no cohabitation problem seems to have been reported with the French forces present on site.