Beijing confirmed on Thursday its construction of "military supporting facilities" in Djibouti, the first of its kind for China in Africa.

"China is negotiating closely with Djibouti in the construction of military supporting facilities," Wu Qian, spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, said during a monthly news conference in Beijing.

He explained the aim is to "provide better logistics and safeguard Chinese peacekeeping forces in the Gulf of Aden, offshore Somalia and other humanitarian assistance tasks of the UN".