ABU DHABI: US intelligence agencies found evidence this year of construction work on what they believed was a secret Chinese military facility in the United Arab Emirates, which was stopped after Washington's intervention.
Citing Wall Street Journal, Policy Research Group's Strategic Insight reported that satellite imagery of the port of Khalifa had revealed suspicious construction work inside a container terminal built and operated by a Chinese shipping corporation, Cosco.
The evidence included huge excavations apparently for a multi-story building and the fact that the site was covered in an apparent attempt to evade scrutiny.
In continuation, the US administration under Joe Biden held urgent talks with the UAE authorities, who appeared to be unaware of the Chinese military activities, reported Strategic Insight.
Further, the United States President Biden had a discussion about the issue with Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.
The report comes four years after the Chinese Navy established a facility in Djibouti, its first overseas base, which was placed within a Chinese-run commercial port, at Doraleh.
Earlier, the US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and the White House Middle East coordinator, Brett McGurk provided intelligence reports to the UAE authorities and the US officials also visited the Khalifa site.
According to the Policy Research Group's Strategic Insight inspection was followed as the construction work was suspended.
The US administration called the Chinese action "dangerous, provocative, and unjustified"
Further, US President Jo Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping had held a virtual summit to ensure that increasingly intense and acrimonious competition between the superpowers does not veer into conflict.
It's noted that the UAE and the wider Gulf region come under US Central Command based in Florida.