Derrick Van Orden: “If the Chinese are capable of taking control of Djibouti, we…”

“That is a critical point. It's right across the way from Yemen and it goes up and it leads to the Suez Canal to the north. So If the Chinese are capable of taking control of Djibouti, we have a real problem because they already own the railroad that goes across the Panama isthmus to control the Panama Canal. That means that the Chinese would in fact have control over the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal. Those are really bad things.” (06:55–07:06)

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.