China is expanding its borders without making any noise. The case of the democratic crisis in Maldives, which no one wants to talk about anymore, has been raised. Maldivians depend heavily on China both financially and militarily. But today we will talk about Pakistan which also benefits from Beijing’s largesse…
Very close ratios since 2015
[1]Chinese President Xi Jinping and then Prime Minister of Pakistan (Nawaz Sharif) attended a ceremony in 2015 to launch infrastructure projects financed by China. They are making giant strides.
Some media reported that Beijing was building a naval and submarine base in Gwadar (southern Pakistan). This was to become the second outpost of the People’s Army after its base in Djibouti.
Pakistan has never confirmed this fact but it is clear that the port of Gwadar also offers an alternative route to Beijing’s oil imports from the Middle East. So the place has become very strategic for China.
A beautiful airport in exchange
[2]The new international airport of Islamabad, whose invoice would have been partially paid by Beijing and built by the CSCEC (China State Construction Engineering Corporation) was opened after a test during which an airliner of Pakistan International Airlines landed on one of the two runways.
The construction of a third track has also been entrusted to a Chinese manufacturer !
A brand new terminal
A 180,000 square metre terminal was built with prefabricated elements in China. They were then riveted and welded on site. It has 15 boarding gates. It will be able to handle 9 million passengers and 80,000 tonnes of cargo per year. The terminal also houses a four-star hotel, duty-free shops, a food court and numerous immigration counters.
[3]A Gwadar airport
In order to measure the importance of Gwadar, the Pakistani government will launch with the help of… China… the construction of a massive airport to serve the port city of Gwadar.
It is also reported that oil pipelines will cross the country to arrive in the Chinese region of Xinjiang. This province is bordered by several countries including Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
The XinJiang region is currently the largest natural gas producing region in China.
Pakistan will thus benefit from new infrastructures while offering China access to the Arabian Sea and small advantages…
Serge Fabre