As China's comprehensive capability and international interaction grow, discussions have emerged on how to protect its overseas interests.

Domestic strategists tend to believe that by establishing military bases in another country's territory, one nation must form alliances with the host country, and make security promises to the latter. Thus they oppose the idea of obtaining overseas military bases, claiming it is incompatible with China's decades-old non-alignment policy.

To make clear the relationship between overseas military bases and alliances, it is necessary to track their historical evolution first. There are many reasons why a state sets up military bases outside its own territory: to maintain overseas trade, to ensure access to strategic materials, to support an ally or weaken an enemy, sometimes even to show its determination to defend global interests.