In Pakistan’s Gwadar port, Chinese whispers grow

Reuters Blogs ^ | May 26, 2011

[sukhoi-30mki]

In Pakistan’s Gwadar port, Chinese whispers grow

May 26, 2011 19:16 IST

First, China helped develop Pakistan’s Gwadar port from scratch on the Baluchistan coast to take the pressure off the country’s main port of Karachi, a few hundred miles to the east. Now Pakistan’s defence minister has said that it would like its long-time ally to build a naval base at Gwadar, which sits on the doorstep of Gulf shipping lanes, less than 200 kms from the mouth of the Straits of Hormuz.

China, which provided more than 80 percent of the port’s $248 million development cost, has moved quickly to distance itself from Pakistani Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar’s remarks about a naval base in Gwadar. The foreign ministry said China was not aware of any such proposal.

While China has stood by Pakistan in its hour of embarrassment following the discovery of Osama bin Laden living in relative comfort in a garrison town, it might be squirming a bit at its ally’s rather aggressive portrayal of their ties. The last thing it needs is to trigger off another round of alarm bells in the region about its big power objectives in the Indian Ocean, especially when it is not ready yet.

As Gideon Rachman wrote in the Financial Times this week (behind a paywall) the Chinese may be wincing at the appearance of the story about building a military base on the Pakistani coast in the Western press “because it will heighten the perception that China is overplaying its hand in the Pacific; an idea that has helped America to strengthen its military alliances across the region.”

The spectre of Chinese ships including perhaps the aircraft carrier that is under development and submarines operating from Gwadar is sure to feed insecurities in the region,

[sukhoi-30mki]

[martin_fierro]

«China, which provided more than 80 percent of the port’s $
248 million development cost, has moved quickly to
distance itself from Pakistani Defence Minister Ahmad
Mukhtar’s remarks about a naval base in Gwadar. The
foreign ministry said China was not aware of any such
proposal.»

Of course not.

Nor does it know anything about the aircraft carrier they’re building.

[onona]

doo doo doo, don’t mind me, just building a little inconsequential naval base here. Nothing to see, just a little fixer upper ya know.

[EdisonOne]

Re Of course not.

Nor does it know anything about the aircraft carrier they’re building:

*******************************************

Jeez, the idiom [Make a mountain of a molehill], why is it that it just all of a sudden jumps to life here?

I mean where is that confidence [rusty bucket and cheap Chinese toaster] that we Nort Amerikans once would proudly go where no man has gone before?

I mean Man!!! The “metaphor” a single lonely little unit of this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INS_Vikrant_(R11); a few of this that even the Russians don’t want http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiG-29K; and a few of these that even the Brits had given up on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Harriers; and BANG!, it’s Darth Vader verses Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia? C’mon Guys!

Gwadar is likely just a refueling and Kung Pao chicken replenishing stop while the other, the single carrier of the Jurassic class they renamed Shi Lang is likely no more but just an image and prestige building item for them so why get all panicky over it?

In other words, that Shi Lang is essentially no more but an overhauled “Mercedes [C-Class] of 80’s vintage”, in other words nutin’ to get excited about.

I mean how are you guys going to handle it if they start coming up with Apple pie which is as Amerikan as it can get rather than plain old Kung Pao chicken?

[OpenSourceEye]

Finally, people are starting to pick up on this. Not a new issue, but, hopefully in the months and years to come, this one will “gain traction.” Old intel. Nothing new here, but it is good to see people finally start digging.