The year 2017 witnessed various events that seriously damaged the Sino-Indian relations. It seems that the scenario may change in 2018. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has confirmed that the Asian giant has no plan to set up a naval base at Jiwani in neighbouring Pakistan.
China has already built a port on the south-western coast of Balochistan. The port in Gwadar – built under China’s One Belt One Road (OBOR) Initiative – is part of the Chinese economic corridor, spanning from Kashgar to Gwadar. Kashgar is popularly known as an oasis city in the Chinese Province of Xinjiang. Recently, various foreign media reported that Pakistan might allow China to set up a military base in Jiwani, which is close to the Gwadar port and also to the strategic Iranian port of Chabahar that is being jointly developed by India, Iran and Afghanistan. In fact, the distance between Jiwani and Chabahar is just 85km.

Gwadar Port

The news is significant for India, which knows the importance of establishing a military base near the Iranian port developed by New Delhi in Central Asia. However, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang has denied as “unnecessary” speculation reports that it was planning to build a military base at Jiwani. “I am not aware of what you mentioned,” he said when asked to comment on the report.
Recently, US President Donald Trump has strongly criticised Pakistan for harbouring terrorists. On the very first day of 2018, he tweeted that his two predecessors had spent USD 33 billion in aid, attempting unsuccessfully to persuade Pakistan to change its policies protecting terrorists. “No more!” Trump vowed. He also described Pakistan as a ‘Terrorist Haven’. He further warned Islamabad, saying that the country should stop harbouring terrorists, or else the US would stop providing aid to it.
Almost immediately, Pakistan slammed the US president for issuing such a statement. Even, China has opposed to the US ‘finger-pointing’ at Pakistan on terror-related issues, saying in a statement that “the responsibility of cracking down on terror outfits cannot be placed on a particular country”. “Countries should strengthen anti-terrorism co-operation on the basis of mutual respect instead of pointing at each other. This is not conducive to the global terrorism efforts,” Lu said.

The speculation was that Pakistan, as a friendly gesture, might allow China to set up the military base in Jiwani. In that case, it would be China’s second military base in foreign countries (after Djibouti).
However, the Chinese experts (too) believe that there is no possibility of building a military base in Jiwani at this time. Lin Minwang – a Professor at Fudan University’s Centre for South Asian Studies – told Global Times that “both Beijing and Islamabad have the ability to build a joint naval and air facility in Pakistan, but it is unnecessary at this time.” At the same time, he admitted that it could be a backup plan for the US and its allies’ Indo-Pacific strategy.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das