Equatorial Guinea and China signed an agreement on Tuesday to promote development cooperation between the two countries. Usually, this kind of announcement doesn’t draw much attention. But this one is sure to raise eyebrows in Washington because of ongoing rumors that China is planning to build an Atlantic base in the small country. 

The agreement comes about ten days after the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Molly Phee, visited Malabo. The visit was widely seen as an attempt to get President Teodoro Obiang Nguena Mbasogo to refuse these alleged Chinese overtures. But officially, the visit with the notoriously corrupt and repressive president was all about human rights.