Sea Guardians Abroad: How China-Pak Naval Drills Shape Training Offered to Somalia

The PakistanSomalia defence arrangement exemplifies a new modality of influence projection, i.e. doctrinal outsourcing. It allows major powers to implant strategic thought systems without formal basing rights or direct agreements. For Somalia, the trade-off between capacity and autonomy is thus sharper than it appears, writes Manan Bhatt (Retd) The PakistanSomalia Defence Cooperation MoU (August 2025) must be viewed not as an isolated bilateral arrangement but as an extension of Pakistans evolving naval doctrine; one that has been shaped through sustained interaction with China under the Sea Guardian series of exercises (20192024). These annual drills, conducted alternately in the Northern Arabian