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China to build Military base at Jiwani in Pakistan

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Trump should dance in oval office on this news .... without or without Ivanka or any of the countless women who alleged him for sexual assault.
 
. . . . .
Indian Channel .... & its nothing but their propaganda
Hindus are good at giving us ideas. In 1940, AIML passed resolution of Lahore which the hindu press termed as "Resolution of Pakistan" and within 7 years it became a reality. IMO, we should welcome a few military basis to thwart any threat from uncle sam.
 
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Look at the headline in the video. Indian port of chahbahar in Iran. It's an Iranian port, Indian delusions are a bit too much!


Eversince They Have Been Exposed On Yadev By Their Own Media,They Have Lost Their Mind
 
.
wion is raw intel. they even got pak traitors working for them like taha saddique.
 
. . .
Wion news?

This news is being reported by other major news outlets like newsweek and SCMP too.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/dipl...-djibouti-now-pakistan-port-earmarked-chinese

http://www.newsweek.com/china-building-military-base-pakistan-america-balochistan-772092


WHY IS CHINA BUILDING A MILITARY BASE IN PAKISTAN, AMERICA’S NEWEST ENEMY?
BY CRISTINA MAZA ON 1/5/18 AT 12:52 PM

As the Trump administration announced plans this week to cut all security funding to Pakistan, Beijing revealed it would build an offshore naval base near a strategic Pakistani port.

The naval base will be located in Gwadar Port, in the Pakistani province of Balochistan. Chinese military officials told the South China Morning Post that the new base was necessary because the current port, which caters mostly to merchant ships, is unable to supply the services and logistical support Chinese warships need. The project would mark China’s second foreign military base in the world, after a recent expansion in Africa.

The announcement comes as regional experts warn that China is replacing the U.S. as Pakistan’s most important security partner and is using Pakistan to gain additional access to the Indian Ocean. China’s increased investments in Pakistan, combined with President Donald Trump’s recent decision to cut all funding to the country, is driving Pakistan into Beijing’s arms, experts warned.

“Chinese investment in Pakistan is expected to reach over $46 billion by 2030 with the creation of a [China-Pakistan Economic Corridor] connecting Balochistan’s Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea with Kashgar, in Western China,” Harrison Akins, a researcher at the Howard Baker Center who focuses on Pakistan and China, told Newsweek.

“Trump will soon find that his ability to unilaterally exert pressure to promote U.S. policy and security abroad is severely limited, as Pakistan has increasingly relied upon China for economic and military assistance,” Akins added.

The Trump administration announced on Thursday it would cut all security aid to Pakistan because the country has failed to address the presence of terrorist networks operating within its borders.

“This does little to promote U.S. interests and security and may actively hurt them, as we have lost a key ally in the region,” Akins told Newsweek.

Trump administration officials, however, say that China and the U.S. share common interests in Pakistan, especially when it comes to security and counter-terrorism.

“China shares some of the concerns with the U.S. The U.S. is working with other regional players, and it’s also not in China’s interest in having sanctuary for terrorists in Pakistan,” a senior administration official told Newsweek.

“What we have seen is an interest from Pakistan in having a relationship with both the U.S. and China,” the official said.

image-886861326_0.jpg
China-led development of Gwadar Port is under way in Gwadar, in southwestern Pakistan, on October 2017. China is building an offshore naval base for warships near the strategic Pakistani port.GETTY IMAGES

Gwadar Port plays an important role in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is a major component of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s expansive “One Belt One Road” economic initiative. The corridor includes an infrastructure project worth billions of dollars that aims to link China with economic initiatives in Africa and Europe.

Chinese ships patrolling the Indian Ocean must obtain supplies that are currently unavailable in Pakistan, and the construction of a naval base and new rail lines in Balochistan would meet those needs.

“The sparsely populated province of Balochistan, on the border with Iran and Afghanistan, has now taken center stage in China’s growing relationship with Pakistan and the development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, linking China’s western city of Kashgar with Balochistan’s Gwadar Port, nestled 3,000 kilometers away on the Arabian Sea,” notes a September 2017 report from the Howard Baker Center, a nonpartisan public policy center, located on the campus of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.



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China is also reportedly building a military base in Pakistan’s Jiwani peninsula, which is near Gwadar and close to the border with Iran. The construction of a base would require local residents be displaced to make room for a security zone.

China opened its first offshore naval base last year in Djibouti, a small French- and Arabic-speaking country on the Horn of Africa.




First Djibouti ... now Pakistan port earmarked for a Chinese overseas naval base, sources say
The facility would be similar to one in operation in African nation, offering logistics and maintenance services to PLA Navy vessels
PUBLISHED : Friday, 05 January, 2018, 10:02pm
UPDATED : Friday, 05 January, 2018, 11:34pm
COMMENTS: 52


Minnie Chan
Minnie Chan
minnie.chan@scmp.com
3327SHARE
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Beijing-based military analyst Zhou Chenming said the base near the Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea would be used to dock and maintain naval vessels, as well as provide other logistical support services.
“China needs to set up another base in Gwadar for its warships because Gwadar is now a civilian port,” Zhou said.
“It’s a common practice to have separate facilities for warships and merchant vessels because of their different operations. Merchant ships need a bigger port with a lot of space for warehouses and containers, but warships need a full range of maintenance and logistical support services.”
Another source close to the People’s Liberation Army confirmed that the navy would set up a base near Gwadar similar to the one already up and running in Djibouti.
“Gwadar port can’t provide specific services for warships ... Public order there is in a mess. It is not a good place to carry out military logistical support,” the source said.
Chinese troops stage live-fire drills in Djibouti, the site of China’s first offshore base. Photo: Weibo
The confirmation follows a report this week on Washington-based website The Daily Caller in which retired US Army Reserve colonel Lawrence Sellin said meetings between high-ranking Chinese and Pakistani military officers indicated Beijing would build a military base on the Jiwani peninsula near Gwadar and close to the Iranian border.

Sellin said the plan would include a naval base and an expansion of the existing airport on the peninsula, both requiring the establishment of a security zone and the forced relocation of long-time residents.
China’s Djibouti military base: ‘logistics facility’, or platform for geopolitical ambitions overseas?

Gwadar port is a key part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a centrepiece of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s broader “Belt and Road Initiative” to link China through trade and infrastructure to Africa and Europe and beyond. The corridor is a multibillion-dollar set of infrastructure projects linking China and Pakistan, and includes a series of road and transport links.
Sellin also said the Jiwani base could be “signs of Chinese militarisation of Pakistan, in particular, and in the Indian Ocean”.

Chinese military observers said Gwadar had great geostrategic and military importance to China but China was not about to “militarise” Pakistan.
Zhou said China wanted better access to the Indian Ocean, which was now largely limited to the Strait of Malacca in Southeast Asia. The Gwadar port could be a transit hub for sea and land routes once the corridor’s railway was up and running, helping improve and cut the cost of logistics for China.
“The Chinese naval flotilla patrolling in the Gulf of Aden and other warships escorting Chinese oil tankers in the Indian Ocean need a naval base for maintenance as well as logistical supplies because they can’t buy much of what they need in Pakistan,” Zhou said.
Rajeev Ranjan Chaturvedy, a research associate at the Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore, said India was well aware of China’s plans in Pakistan.
“China finds it very useful to use Pakistan against India and ignore India’s concerns, particularly on terrorism issues. That has created a lot of stress in the relationship between Beijing and Delhi,” he said.
“[But] Indian naval capabilities and experience in the Indian Ocean region are fairly good. Much better than Pakistan and China.”
China sends troops to military base in Djibouti, widening reach across Indian Ocean

Swaran Singh, a professor at the school of international studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, said neither Gwadar nor Jiwani would be a wise choice for a naval base because of its proximity to the port of Chabahar in Iran, in which India has a big stake.
New Delhi has invested more than US$100 million for two berths in the port on a 10-year lease, as a way to promote trade with Afghanistan and Central Asia, bypassing Pakistan.
“Potentially both [Gwadar and Jiwani] can become vulnerable to any stand-off ... between Pakistan and Iran but also China in Pakistan and India which is present in Chabahar,” Singh said.
China began building what it describes as a 36-hectare logistics base in Djibouti in 2016, with its first naval troops arriving in July last year. The troops have staged regular live-fire drills since September, a move military analysts say is meant to show China’s ability to protect its overseas interests in Africa and the Indian Ocean region.
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: First Djibouti, now Pakistan tipped to have Chinese base
 
.
This news is being reported by other major news outlets like newsweek and SCMP too.

WHY IS CHINA BUILDING A MILITARY BASE IN PAKISTAN, AMERICA’S NEWEST ENEMY?
BY CRISTINA MAZA ON 1/5/18 AT 12:52 PM

As the Trump administration announced plans this week to cut all security funding to Pakistan, Beijing revealed it would build an offshore naval base near a strategic Pakistani port.

The naval base will be located in Gwadar Port, in the Pakistani province of Balochistan. Chinese military officials told the South China Morning Post that the new base was necessary because the current port, which caters mostly to merchant ships, is unable to supply the services and logistical support Chinese warships need. The project would mark China’s second foreign military base in the world, after a recent expansion in Africa.

The announcement comes as regional experts warn that China is replacing the U.S. as Pakistan’s most important security partner and is using Pakistan to gain additional access to the Indian Ocean. China’s increased investments in Pakistan, combined with President Donald Trump’s recent decision to cut all funding to the country, is driving Pakistan into Beijing’s arms, experts warned.

“Chinese investment in Pakistan is expected to reach over $46 billion by 2030 with the creation of a [China-Pakistan Economic Corridor] connecting Balochistan’s Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea with Kashgar, in Western China,” Harrison Akins, a researcher at the Howard Baker Center who focuses on Pakistan and China, told Newsweek.

“Trump will soon find that his ability to unilaterally exert pressure to promote U.S. policy and security abroad is severely limited, as Pakistan has increasingly relied upon China for economic and military assistance,” Akins added.

The Trump administration announced on Thursday it would cut all security aid to Pakistan because the country has failed to address the presence of terrorist networks operating within its borders.

“This does little to promote U.S. interests and security and may actively hurt them, as we have lost a key ally in the region,” Akins told Newsweek.

Trump administration officials, however, say that China and the U.S. share common interests in Pakistan, especially when it comes to security and counter-terrorism.

“China shares some of the concerns with the U.S. The U.S. is working with other regional players, and it’s also not in China’s interest in having sanctuary for terrorists in Pakistan,” a senior administration official told Newsweek.

“What we have seen is an interest from Pakistan in having a relationship with both the U.S. and China,” the official said.

image-886861326_0.jpg
China-led development of Gwadar Port is under way in Gwadar, in southwestern Pakistan, on October 2017. China is building an offshore naval base for warships near the strategic Pakistani port.GETTY IMAGES

Gwadar Port plays an important role in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is a major component of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s expansive “One Belt One Road” economic initiative. The corridor includes an infrastructure project worth billions of dollars that aims to link China with economic initiatives in Africa and Europe.

Chinese ships patrolling the Indian Ocean must obtain supplies that are currently unavailable in Pakistan, and the construction of a naval base and new rail lines in Balochistan would meet those needs.

“The sparsely populated province of Balochistan, on the border with Iran and Afghanistan, has now taken center stage in China’s growing relationship with Pakistan and the development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, linking China’s western city of Kashgar with Balochistan’s Gwadar Port, nestled 3,000 kilometers away on the Arabian Sea,” notes a September 2017 report from the Howard Baker Center, a nonpartisan public policy center, located on the campus of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.



View image on Twitter
DStv7qKWkAAD46i.jpg:small

RT

✔@RT_com


#Pakistan brings yuan on par with US dollar for investment & trade with #China https://on.rt.com/8w7p

1:30 PM - Jan 4, 2018
Twitter Ads info and privacy


China is also reportedly building a military base in Pakistan’s Jiwani peninsula, which is near Gwadar and close to the border with Iran. The construction of a base would require local residents be displaced to make room for a security zone.

China opened its first offshore naval base last year in Djibouti, a small French- and Arabic-speaking country on the Horn of Africa.




First Djibouti ... now Pakistan port earmarked for a Chinese overseas naval base, sources say
The facility would be similar to one in operation in African nation, offering logistics and maintenance services to PLA Navy vessels
PUBLISHED : Friday, 05 January, 2018, 10:02pm
UPDATED : Friday, 05 January, 2018, 11:34pm
COMMENTS: 52


Minnie Chan
Minnie Chan
minnie.chan@scmp.com
3327SHARE
52

PrintEmail
RELATED TOPICS
China military
Pakistan
More on this story
The Hambantota port deal is just one of a series of infrastructure forays China has made into Sri Lanka in a region usually regarded as India’s backyard. Photo: AFP
DIPLOMACY & DEFENCE
A Chinese flag flies over Sri Lanka – and India’s backyard
5 Jan 2018
Related Articles
The Type 055 destroyer will accompany China’s first domestically designed and produced aircraft carrier. Photo: Xinhua
DIPLOMACY & DEFENCE
Work on Chinese aircraft carrier battleship enters home stretch
6 Jan 2018
President Xi Jingping visits the Central Theatre Command ahead of nationwide winter exercises. Photo: Weibo
DIPLOMACY & DEFENCE
Xi calls for battle readiness as troops stage massive winter drills
5 Jan 2018
China's first domestically built aircraft carrier during a launching ceremony in Dalian in April. It is expected to go into full service later this year. Photo: Reuters
DIPLOMACY & DEFENCE
China has started building third aircraft carrier, military sources say
5 Jan 2018
Beijing plans to build its second offshore naval base near a strategically important Pakistani port following the opening of its first facility in Djibouti on the Horn of Africa last year.
SCMP TODAY: HK EDITION
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E-mail *
Enter your email
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Beijing-based military analyst Zhou Chenming said the base near the Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea would be used to dock and maintain naval vessels, as well as provide other logistical support services.
“China needs to set up another base in Gwadar for its warships because Gwadar is now a civilian port,” Zhou said.
“It’s a common practice to have separate facilities for warships and merchant vessels because of their different operations. Merchant ships need a bigger port with a lot of space for warehouses and containers, but warships need a full range of maintenance and logistical support services.”
Another source close to the People’s Liberation Army confirmed that the navy would set up a base near Gwadar similar to the one already up and running in Djibouti.
“Gwadar port can’t provide specific services for warships ... Public order there is in a mess. It is not a good place to carry out military logistical support,” the source said.
Chinese troops stage live-fire drills in Djibouti, the site of China’s first offshore base. Photo: Weibo
The confirmation follows a report this week on Washington-based website The Daily Caller in which retired US Army Reserve colonel Lawrence Sellin said meetings between high-ranking Chinese and Pakistani military officers indicated Beijing would build a military base on the Jiwani peninsula near Gwadar and close to the Iranian border.

Sellin said the plan would include a naval base and an expansion of the existing airport on the peninsula, both requiring the establishment of a security zone and the forced relocation of long-time residents.
China’s Djibouti military base: ‘logistics facility’, or platform for geopolitical ambitions overseas?

Gwadar port is a key part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a centrepiece of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s broader “Belt and Road Initiative” to link China through trade and infrastructure to Africa and Europe and beyond. The corridor is a multibillion-dollar set of infrastructure projects linking China and Pakistan, and includes a series of road and transport links.
Sellin also said the Jiwani base could be “signs of Chinese militarisation of Pakistan, in particular, and in the Indian Ocean”.

Chinese military observers said Gwadar had great geostrategic and military importance to China but China was not about to “militarise” Pakistan.
Zhou said China wanted better access to the Indian Ocean, which was now largely limited to the Strait of Malacca in Southeast Asia. The Gwadar port could be a transit hub for sea and land routes once the corridor’s railway was up and running, helping improve and cut the cost of logistics for China.
“The Chinese naval flotilla patrolling in the Gulf of Aden and other warships escorting Chinese oil tankers in the Indian Ocean need a naval base for maintenance as well as logistical supplies because they can’t buy much of what they need in Pakistan,” Zhou said.
Rajeev Ranjan Chaturvedy, a research associate at the Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore, said India was well aware of China’s plans in Pakistan.
“China finds it very useful to use Pakistan against India and ignore India’s concerns, particularly on terrorism issues. That has created a lot of stress in the relationship between Beijing and Delhi,” he said.
“[But] Indian naval capabilities and experience in the Indian Ocean region are fairly good. Much better than Pakistan and China.”
China sends troops to military base in Djibouti, widening reach across Indian Ocean

Swaran Singh, a professor at the school of international studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, said neither Gwadar nor Jiwani would be a wise choice for a naval base because of its proximity to the port of Chabahar in Iran, in which India has a big stake.
New Delhi has invested more than US$100 million for two berths in the port on a 10-year lease, as a way to promote trade with Afghanistan and Central Asia, bypassing Pakistan.
“Potentially both [Gwadar and Jiwani] can become vulnerable to any stand-off ... between Pakistan and Iran but also China in Pakistan and India which is present in Chabahar,” Singh said.
China began building what it describes as a 36-hectare logistics base in Djibouti in 2016, with its first naval troops arriving in July last year. The troops have staged regular live-fire drills since September, a move military analysts say is meant to show China’s ability to protect its overseas interests in Africa and the Indian Ocean region.
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: First Djibouti, now Pakistan tipped to have Chinese base

never heard of Wion news before today.
 
. .
This news is being reported by other major news outlets like newsweek and SCMP too.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/dipl...-djibouti-now-pakistan-port-earmarked-chinese

http://www.newsweek.com/china-building-military-base-pakistan-america-balochistan-772092


WHY IS CHINA BUILDING A MILITARY BASE IN PAKISTAN, AMERICA’S NEWEST ENEMY?
BY CRISTINA MAZA ON 1/5/18 AT 12:52 PM

As the Trump administration announced plans this week to cut all security funding to Pakistan, Beijing revealed it would build an offshore naval base near a strategic Pakistani port.

The naval base will be located in Gwadar Port, in the Pakistani province of Balochistan. Chinese military officials told the South China Morning Post that the new base was necessary because the current port, which caters mostly to merchant ships, is unable to supply the services and logistical support Chinese warships need. The project would mark China’s second foreign military base in the world, after a recent expansion in Africa.

The announcement comes as regional experts warn that China is replacing the U.S. as Pakistan’s most important security partner and is using Pakistan to gain additional access to the Indian Ocean. China’s increased investments in Pakistan, combined with President Donald Trump’s recent decision to cut all funding to the country, is driving Pakistan into Beijing’s arms, experts warned.

“Chinese investment in Pakistan is expected to reach over $46 billion by 2030 with the creation of a [China-Pakistan Economic Corridor] connecting Balochistan’s Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea with Kashgar, in Western China,” Harrison Akins, a researcher at the Howard Baker Center who focuses on Pakistan and China, told Newsweek.

“Trump will soon find that his ability to unilaterally exert pressure to promote U.S. policy and security abroad is severely limited, as Pakistan has increasingly relied upon China for economic and military assistance,” Akins added.

The Trump administration announced on Thursday it would cut all security aid to Pakistan because the country has failed to address the presence of terrorist networks operating within its borders.

“This does little to promote U.S. interests and security and may actively hurt them, as we have lost a key ally in the region,” Akins told Newsweek.

Trump administration officials, however, say that China and the U.S. share common interests in Pakistan, especially when it comes to security and counter-terrorism.

“China shares some of the concerns with the U.S. The U.S. is working with other regional players, and it’s also not in China’s interest in having sanctuary for terrorists in Pakistan,” a senior administration official told Newsweek.

“What we have seen is an interest from Pakistan in having a relationship with both the U.S. and China,” the official said.

image-886861326_0.jpg
China-led development of Gwadar Port is under way in Gwadar, in southwestern Pakistan, on October 2017. China is building an offshore naval base for warships near the strategic Pakistani port.GETTY IMAGES

Gwadar Port plays an important role in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is a major component of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s expansive “One Belt One Road” economic initiative. The corridor includes an infrastructure project worth billions of dollars that aims to link China with economic initiatives in Africa and Europe.

Chinese ships patrolling the Indian Ocean must obtain supplies that are currently unavailable in Pakistan, and the construction of a naval base and new rail lines in Balochistan would meet those needs.

“The sparsely populated province of Balochistan, on the border with Iran and Afghanistan, has now taken center stage in China’s growing relationship with Pakistan and the development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, linking China’s western city of Kashgar with Balochistan’s Gwadar Port, nestled 3,000 kilometers away on the Arabian Sea,” notes a September 2017 report from the Howard Baker Center, a nonpartisan public policy center, located on the campus of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.



View image on Twitter
DStv7qKWkAAD46i.jpg:small

RT

✔@RT_com


#Pakistan brings yuan on par with US dollar for investment & trade with #China https://on.rt.com/8w7p

1:30 PM - Jan 4, 2018
Twitter Ads info and privacy


China is also reportedly building a military base in Pakistan’s Jiwani peninsula, which is near Gwadar and close to the border with Iran. The construction of a base would require local residents be displaced to make room for a security zone.

China opened its first offshore naval base last year in Djibouti, a small French- and Arabic-speaking country on the Horn of Africa.




First Djibouti ... now Pakistan port earmarked for a Chinese overseas naval base, sources say
The facility would be similar to one in operation in African nation, offering logistics and maintenance services to PLA Navy vessels
PUBLISHED : Friday, 05 January, 2018, 10:02pm
UPDATED : Friday, 05 January, 2018, 11:34pm
COMMENTS: 52


Minnie Chan
Minnie Chan
minnie.chan@scmp.com
3327SHARE
52

PrintEmail
RELATED TOPICS
China military
Pakistan
More on this story
The Hambantota port deal is just one of a series of infrastructure forays China has made into Sri Lanka in a region usually regarded as India’s backyard. Photo: AFP
DIPLOMACY & DEFENCE
A Chinese flag flies over Sri Lanka – and India’s backyard
5 Jan 2018
Related Articles
The Type 055 destroyer will accompany China’s first domestically designed and produced aircraft carrier. Photo: Xinhua
DIPLOMACY & DEFENCE
Work on Chinese aircraft carrier battleship enters home stretch
6 Jan 2018
President Xi Jingping visits the Central Theatre Command ahead of nationwide winter exercises. Photo: Weibo
DIPLOMACY & DEFENCE
Xi calls for battle readiness as troops stage massive winter drills
5 Jan 2018
China's first domestically built aircraft carrier during a launching ceremony in Dalian in April. It is expected to go into full service later this year. Photo: Reuters
DIPLOMACY & DEFENCE
China has started building third aircraft carrier, military sources say
5 Jan 2018
Beijing plans to build its second offshore naval base near a strategically important Pakistani port following the opening of its first facility in Djibouti on the Horn of Africa last year.
SCMP TODAY: HK EDITION
Get updates direct to your inbox
E-mail *
Enter your email
subscribe
By registering you agree to our T&Cs & Privacy Policy
Beijing-based military analyst Zhou Chenming said the base near the Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea would be used to dock and maintain naval vessels, as well as provide other logistical support services.
“China needs to set up another base in Gwadar for its warships because Gwadar is now a civilian port,” Zhou said.
“It’s a common practice to have separate facilities for warships and merchant vessels because of their different operations. Merchant ships need a bigger port with a lot of space for warehouses and containers, but warships need a full range of maintenance and logistical support services.”
Another source close to the People’s Liberation Army confirmed that the navy would set up a base near Gwadar similar to the one already up and running in Djibouti.
“Gwadar port can’t provide specific services for warships ... Public order there is in a mess. It is not a good place to carry out military logistical support,” the source said.
Chinese troops stage live-fire drills in Djibouti, the site of China’s first offshore base. Photo: Weibo
The confirmation follows a report this week on Washington-based website The Daily Caller in which retired US Army Reserve colonel Lawrence Sellin said meetings between high-ranking Chinese and Pakistani military officers indicated Beijing would build a military base on the Jiwani peninsula near Gwadar and close to the Iranian border.

Sellin said the plan would include a naval base and an expansion of the existing airport on the peninsula, both requiring the establishment of a security zone and the forced relocation of long-time residents.
China’s Djibouti military base: ‘logistics facility’, or platform for geopolitical ambitions overseas?

Gwadar port is a key part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a centrepiece of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s broader “Belt and Road Initiative” to link China through trade and infrastructure to Africa and Europe and beyond. The corridor is a multibillion-dollar set of infrastructure projects linking China and Pakistan, and includes a series of road and transport links.
Sellin also said the Jiwani base could be “signs of Chinese militarisation of Pakistan, in particular, and in the Indian Ocean”.

Chinese military observers said Gwadar had great geostrategic and military importance to China but China was not about to “militarise” Pakistan.
Zhou said China wanted better access to the Indian Ocean, which was now largely limited to the Strait of Malacca in Southeast Asia. The Gwadar port could be a transit hub for sea and land routes once the corridor’s railway was up and running, helping improve and cut the cost of logistics for China.
“The Chinese naval flotilla patrolling in the Gulf of Aden and other warships escorting Chinese oil tankers in the Indian Ocean need a naval base for maintenance as well as logistical supplies because they can’t buy much of what they need in Pakistan,” Zhou said.
Rajeev Ranjan Chaturvedy, a research associate at the Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore, said India was well aware of China’s plans in Pakistan.
“China finds it very useful to use Pakistan against India and ignore India’s concerns, particularly on terrorism issues. That has created a lot of stress in the relationship between Beijing and Delhi,” he said.
“[But] Indian naval capabilities and experience in the Indian Ocean region are fairly good. Much better than Pakistan and China.”
China sends troops to military base in Djibouti, widening reach across Indian Ocean

Swaran Singh, a professor at the school of international studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, said neither Gwadar nor Jiwani would be a wise choice for a naval base because of its proximity to the port of Chabahar in Iran, in which India has a big stake.
New Delhi has invested more than US$100 million for two berths in the port on a 10-year lease, as a way to promote trade with Afghanistan and Central Asia, bypassing Pakistan.
“Potentially both [Gwadar and Jiwani] can become vulnerable to any stand-off ... between Pakistan and Iran but also China in Pakistan and India which is present in Chabahar,” Singh said.
China began building what it describes as a 36-hectare logistics base in Djibouti in 2016, with its first naval troops arriving in July last year. The troops have staged regular live-fire drills since September, a move military analysts say is meant to show China’s ability to protect its overseas interests in Africa and the Indian Ocean region.
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: First Djibouti, now Pakistan tipped to have Chinese base
Not surprising at all. China needs to defend CPEC.
 
.

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