China –Pakistan Economic Corridor and the
Growing Rivalry in the Indian Ocean
( This paper on China –Pakistan Economic Corridor and the Growing Rivalry in the Indian Ocean". was presented by Sri Lankan journalist and author Latheef Farook at the two day International Conference on China-Pakistan Economic Co-operation in Islamabad 14 and 15 March 2016)
In the aftermath of the collapse of the former Soviet Union in December 1979, United States, Britain, Europe, Russia and Israel began invading and destroying Muslim countries in the Middle East and beyond in their drive to create Greater Israel by annexing Syria and Iraq.
While the west was busy with their wars, China began peacefully entering African countries, concluding agreements and undertaking numerous development projects besides finding markets for its wide range of products.
As a result China’s trade with Africa which stood at around ten billion dollar in 2002 reached around 180 billion dollar in 2004. China’s four trillion dollar trade and seven million barrels of daily oil is transacted through the Indian Ocean sea route.
Thus the Indian ocean is indispensable to China. However there were fears that this sea trade route can be choked by blocking mainly Malacca Strait by hostile powers.
To overcome this threat China tied up with its longstanding trustworthy partner- Pakistan started building an alternate trade route as part of an ambitious 46 billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor-CPEC project.
The CPEC is unique in the sense that it connects China and Pakistan only. Also it connects China to the sea through the quickest route. Under this overall program China intends to build a web of networks such as the Southern Silk Road, the Central Asia Silk Road, the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and the CPEC.
It could be a pivot to China’s One Belt, One Road (OBOR) concept that aims to connect 60 countries on the Asia and European land mass.
One of them was linking the strategically important Pakistani port of Gwadar in the Persian Gulf to China’s Xinjiang region through a vast network of highways and railways, upgrading and expanding infrastructure and overhauling of the transportation infrastructure, sea ports, imports oil and gas pipeline. This land route, shortens distance with the Gulf market by 10,000 kilometers, and it is bound to change the entire geo politics of the region
One should not forget that one of the main reasons why the now collapsed Soviet Union dispatched troops to Afghanistan was to gain access to warm waters of Persian Gulf.
Thus the development of the strategically located port of Gwadar and a modern airport there also bound to raise concern from Gulf sheikhdoms, Tehran, Moscow to Washington, London, Paris, Tel Aviv and New Delhi.
China also developed its own strategy for the Indian Ocean by setting up a series of ports in friendly countries along the ocean's northern seaboard from Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
The Chinese government is also planning a canal across the Isthmus of Kra, in Thailand, to link the Indian Ocean to China's Pacific coast -- a project on the scale of the Panama Canal. This could further tip Asia's balance of power in China's favor by giving China's expanding navy and commercial maritime fleet easy access from East Africa to Japan and the Korean Peninsula.
( This paper on China –Pakistan Economic Corridor and the Growing Rivalry in the Indian Ocean". was presented by Sri Lankan journalist and author Latheef Farook at the two day International Conference on China-Pakistan Economic Co-operation in Islamabad 14 and 15 March 2016)
In the aftermath of the collapse of the former Soviet Union in December 1979, United States, Britain, Europe, Russia and Israel began invading and destroying Muslim countries in the Middle East and beyond in their drive to create Greater Israel by annexing Syria and Iraq.
While the west was busy with their wars, China began peacefully entering African countries, concluding agreements and undertaking numerous development projects besides finding markets for its wide range of products.
As a result China’s trade with Africa which stood at around ten billion dollar in 2002 reached around 180 billion dollar in 2004. China’s four trillion dollar trade and seven million barrels of daily oil is transacted through the Indian Ocean sea route.
Thus the Indian ocean is indispensable to China. However there were fears that this sea trade route can be choked by blocking mainly Malacca Strait by hostile powers.
To overcome this threat China tied up with its longstanding trustworthy partner- Pakistan started building an alternate trade route as part of an ambitious 46 billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor-CPEC project.
The CPEC is unique in the sense that it connects China and Pakistan only. Also it connects China to the sea through the quickest route. Under this overall program China intends to build a web of networks such as the Southern Silk Road, the Central Asia Silk Road, the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and the CPEC.
It could be a pivot to China’s One Belt, One Road (OBOR) concept that aims to connect 60 countries on the Asia and European land mass.
One of them was linking the strategically important Pakistani port of Gwadar in the Persian Gulf to China’s Xinjiang region through a vast network of highways and railways, upgrading and expanding infrastructure and overhauling of the transportation infrastructure, sea ports, imports oil and gas pipeline. This land route, shortens distance with the Gulf market by 10,000 kilometers, and it is bound to change the entire geo politics of the region
One should not forget that one of the main reasons why the now collapsed Soviet Union dispatched troops to Afghanistan was to gain access to warm waters of Persian Gulf.
Thus the development of the strategically located port of Gwadar and a modern airport there also bound to raise concern from Gulf sheikhdoms, Tehran, Moscow to Washington, London, Paris, Tel Aviv and New Delhi.
China also developed its own strategy for the Indian Ocean by setting up a series of ports in friendly countries along the ocean's northern seaboard from Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
The Chinese government is also planning a canal across the Isthmus of Kra, in Thailand, to link the Indian Ocean to China's Pacific coast -- a project on the scale of the Panama Canal. This could further tip Asia's balance of power in China's favor by giving China's expanding navy and commercial maritime fleet easy access from East Africa to Japan and the Korean Peninsula.
