indian_foxhound
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Forget Gwadar, China has Karachi - Indian Express
The Government of India is finding it increasingly
hard to speak with one voice on issues relating to
China. Consider for example the reaction of two of
Indias senior ministers in response to the reports
that Pakistan is about to hand over the Gwadar
port to a Chinese company. As Indias diplomat-in-chief, the external affairs
minister Salman Khurshid sought to down play the
story. He was quoted as saying I don't think we
should overreact to everything that Pakistan does
or everything that China is involved in. We need to
take these matters in our stride and in the normal course. That was last week. This week at the inauguration
of the air show in Bengaluru, the defence minister,
A. K. Antony was cryptic but quite clear. India is
"concerned' about the development that could
bring Chinese navy closer to Indias shores. The absence of coherent policy articulation in Delhi
is made worse by a media debate that has no
space for putting a story in perspective or bring
some facts into play. The prospect of China running the Gwadar port in
Pakistan, currently being run by a subsidiary of the
Port of Singapore Authority, has been around for a
while. After the American raid on Abbottabad and
the execution of Osama bin Ladin in May 2011,
angry Pakistani leaders were quite open in offering Gwadar as a base for the Chinese navy. It
was Beijing that said, thank, but no thanks. Last week the Pakistani Cabinet has taken a
decision to hand it over to a Chinese company. The
port, on a small island off the Makran coast of
Balochistan, was built with Chinese financial
assistance in the last decade. Has China changed its
mind? Is it ready to build a naval facility at Gwadar, that is so close to the sensitive Persian Gulf and
next door to India? Facts speak otherwise. For all the hype, Gwadar is
not an attractive place for the Chinese navy. It is
located in one of the most backward regions of
Pakistan. The Baloch insurgency has frequently
targeted Chinese nationals doing project work in
the region. Gwadar does not have the kind of infrastructure
that navies look for. What Gwadar lacks, Karachi
has in plenty. Since it first showed up in the Indian
Ocean nearly three decades ago, Karachi has been
the favourite port of call for the Chinese navy. Chinese companies have long partnered the
Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works which is
assembling the Chinese supplied frigates there.
Karachi has enough infrastructure to service
Chinese naval vessels and potential deployment of
Chinese maritime aircraft in the Indian Ocean. Someday, Gwadar might well emerge as a full-
fledged Chinese naval facility. For now, Karachi
already serves as a major facility for the projection
of Chinese naval power into the Indian Ocean.
The Government of India is finding it increasingly
hard to speak with one voice on issues relating to
China. Consider for example the reaction of two of
Indias senior ministers in response to the reports
that Pakistan is about to hand over the Gwadar
port to a Chinese company. As Indias diplomat-in-chief, the external affairs
minister Salman Khurshid sought to down play the
story. He was quoted as saying I don't think we
should overreact to everything that Pakistan does
or everything that China is involved in. We need to
take these matters in our stride and in the normal course. That was last week. This week at the inauguration
of the air show in Bengaluru, the defence minister,
A. K. Antony was cryptic but quite clear. India is
"concerned' about the development that could
bring Chinese navy closer to Indias shores. The absence of coherent policy articulation in Delhi
is made worse by a media debate that has no
space for putting a story in perspective or bring
some facts into play. The prospect of China running the Gwadar port in
Pakistan, currently being run by a subsidiary of the
Port of Singapore Authority, has been around for a
while. After the American raid on Abbottabad and
the execution of Osama bin Ladin in May 2011,
angry Pakistani leaders were quite open in offering Gwadar as a base for the Chinese navy. It
was Beijing that said, thank, but no thanks. Last week the Pakistani Cabinet has taken a
decision to hand it over to a Chinese company. The
port, on a small island off the Makran coast of
Balochistan, was built with Chinese financial
assistance in the last decade. Has China changed its
mind? Is it ready to build a naval facility at Gwadar, that is so close to the sensitive Persian Gulf and
next door to India? Facts speak otherwise. For all the hype, Gwadar is
not an attractive place for the Chinese navy. It is
located in one of the most backward regions of
Pakistan. The Baloch insurgency has frequently
targeted Chinese nationals doing project work in
the region. Gwadar does not have the kind of infrastructure
that navies look for. What Gwadar lacks, Karachi
has in plenty. Since it first showed up in the Indian
Ocean nearly three decades ago, Karachi has been
the favourite port of call for the Chinese navy. Chinese companies have long partnered the
Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works which is
assembling the Chinese supplied frigates there.
Karachi has enough infrastructure to service
Chinese naval vessels and potential deployment of
Chinese maritime aircraft in the Indian Ocean. Someday, Gwadar might well emerge as a full-
fledged Chinese naval facility. For now, Karachi
already serves as a major facility for the projection
of Chinese naval power into the Indian Ocean.
.................. good
