The unsubstantiated claim by the U.S. military that China is considering Equatorial Guinea as the location of its next military base in Africa is widely gaining traction among U.S. and European journalists, scholars, and analysts despite the fact that there is still no evidence to verify the Pentagon’s assertion.

A recent Wall Street Journal article quoted unnamed American officials and offered no other countervailing perspectives from Chinese military analysts who could provide badly-needed context. Yet many otherwise credible institutions seem willing to use the article as proof that the PLA is, in fact, building a base in Equatorial Guinea.