Home GRASP GRASP/China Gulp. Pakistan may be about to offer a naval base to… China

Gulp. Pakistan may be about to offer a naval base to… China

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I won’t even bother asking what could possibly go wrong
NBC News dropped a bit of a bombshell last night coming from a place which has (fortunately) not been in the news as much of late. Pakistan. Usually when that country pops up in the headlines it’s something to do with Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, the Taliban and the long running mess in that neck of the woods, but this time it’s all about China. It turns out that there is a very real possibility that Pakistan may be offering the Chinese a naval base on their coast as part of an expanded Chinese trade route deal worth hundreds of billions of dollars. The Chinese are denying it at this point, but our intelligence agencies seem to believe it’s something which may be happening sooner rather than later.
Nuclear-armed Pakistan is a key ally of the United States — but the relationship is far from untroubled. And one of Washington’s main geopolitical rivals appears ready to step in.
The Pentagon is warning that the Islamic republic may soon house a Chinese military base.
A report released earlier this month suggested that Beijing would likely turn to countries such as Pakistan as it seeks to project its economic and military power abroad.
The Pentagon didn’ t provide a time frame for such a move. However, a senior Pakistani diplomat confirmed to NBC News that his country invited China to build a naval facility on its territory back in 2011.
Where would such a base be located if this happened? Putting one in Karachi would likely be a bit too provocative for everyone to stomach, but you could definitely see them setting up shop in Gwadar. There’s already a thriving, well established maritime port there with plenty of commercial Chinese interests involved. And if you look at a map of the region you’ ll notice that Gwadar is pretty much spitting distance from Iran.

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