Tuesday, August 18, 2020
China Appears To Increase Foothold In Strategic Port In Pakistan
H I Sutton
China has a commercial and political interest in developing the port of Gwadar in Pakistan. It is of strategic importance because it will provide Beijing with a port facility connected to China by road and rail that bypasses the Strait of Malacca. In wartime, that narrow choke point between the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian island of Sumatra could be closed off by the Indian Navy. Gwadar is also believed to be a possible future overseas base for the Chinese Navy, adding to the existing one in Djibouti on the Horn of Africa. Now new buildings point towards the next phase of China’s development at the port.
Open-source intelligence reveals that a third new site of interest has been constructed in the past few months. Twitter account d-atis, which monitors Asian defense topics and specializes in image intelligence, shared a tweet showing the three sites. These have characteristic blue-roofed buildings which contrast with existing local building materials and styles. They are seen as a leading indicator of the next stage of port construction.
Construction of the first site, nearest to the port facility, began around May last year. The first of the blue-roofed buildings appeared there in June 2019. Then the blue roofs appeared at the second site, farther north, in September 2019. The land at the third site started to be prepared in January this year and the blue roofs were substantially completed in July. These later two sites are nearer to the heavily defended Chinese compound built at the anticipated northern end of the new port.
This newest site is behind the local hospital. Construction started in January this year. Its proximity to the hospital raises the question of whether it is pandemic related. It was started over a month before Pakistan registered its first case, however, and it appears to be a separate compound, so it is unlikely that it is a coronavirus related extension.
It has been suggested that these sites are barracks for Chinese military. Given the comparatively low security, this seems unlikely. A more prosaic possibility is that they are accommodation for workers to construct the next phase of the port development. This may include a Chinese naval base.
Chinese investment in the port is part of the wider Belt and Road initiative. It will be connected to China by road, rail and pipelines. This wider project is known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and may take until 2030 to fully put in place.
The naval aspect may have impact, however. If China does indeed base warships or submarines there, possibly as part of a future Indian Ocean Squadron, it could alter the naval balance in the region. For this reason analysts will be watching the construction of these blue-roofed camps very closely.
PPP will not compromise on 18th Amendment: Bilawal Bhutto
The PPP chairman was addressing media outside an accountability court on Monday where former president Asif Ali Zardari had attended a hearing related to the Toshakhana reference.
Bilawal alleged that his lawyers were not allowed to go inside the court. “The public and lawyers were not allowed to come to the court. Is this an attempt to pressurise us or the judiciary,” he asked.
“Are you so afraid of president Zardari?” said Bilawal, adding that the “entire police” of Islamabad was deployed at the court's premises. Bilawal said that the government can do whatever it wants but the PPP will not compromise on the 18th Amendment.
“We are feeling that there is pressure on us, we are being threatened so that we can tow the same line,” he said.
The PPP chairperson accused police and administration of misbehaving with the people.
“Today is August 17, every jiyala remembers August 17,” said the PPP chairman, calling it a “mango day” in reference to the plane crash of former military dictator Zia-ul-Haq.
Bilawal continued that there was a “puppet” sitting in the Prime Minister House and “his strings are being operated from elsewhere”.
The PPP chairman warned that attempts were being made to control everyone like a puppet.
“PPP has faced the dictatorships of Yahya Khan, Zia-ul-Haq and Musharraf,” said Bilawal.
The accountability court hearing the Toshakhana reference against former president Asif Ali Zardari will frame charges against the PPP leader on September 9. Today, Zardari appeared before the accountability court to attend a hearing in the reference. Due to the COVID-19 situation, the party leadership had advised workers not to attend his hearing. As soon as the former president arrived in the courtroom, Bilawal called upon party workers present to leave the premises. He urged even the attorneys' assistants to leave the courtroom due to the prevalent COVID-19 situation.
The NAB reference filed against Zardari and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif accuses them of obtaining the cars from Toshakhana (gift depository) by paying 15% of the price of the cars.
https://nation.com.pk/17-Aug-2020/ppp-will-not-compromise-on-18th-amendment-bilawal-bhutto
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