India "concerned" by China role in Pakistan port

(Reuters) - China's role in operating a strategically important port in Pakistan is a matter of concern for India, its defense minister said on Wednesday, as New Delhi and Beijing jostle for influence in the region.

Indian policy-makers have long been wary of a string of strategically located ports being built by Chinese companies in its neighborhood, as India beefs up its military clout to compete with its Asian rival.

Management of Gwadar port, around 600 km (370 miles) from Karachi and close to Pakistan's border with Iran, was handed over to state-run Chinese Overseas Port Holdings last week after previously being managed by Singapore's PSA International.

"It is a matter of concern to us," Indian Defense Minister A.K. Antony told reporters when asked about Chinese control of the port.

When complete, the port, which is close to the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping lane, is seen opening up an energy and trade corridor from the Gulf, across Pakistan to western China, and could be used by the Chinese Navy, analysts say.

oh look the third fool..worried about a huge fool..Idiot India..worried about a project that it should be invested in from the start!

imagine a nation that refuses to make proper life with its neighbours..living for 60+ years in an expensive, fully distracting, humungously expensive totally dangerous state of war those next door..a state in which any mistake and its anhilation.

if there is any area that should avidly seek co-operation it is that India/China/Pakistan subregion.  they do not and India appears to be the most miserable, fractious, stoking and dangerous of the lot.

I keep saying China has a vested interest in Kashmir...

Quote:I keep saying China has a vested interest in Kashmir...

well deh shud if deh are neighbors with kashmir? 

but why isnt india seeking joint development of the region so it is invested in all that goes on?

those 3 nations have a colltived and vested regional interest..tri-lateral security and peace. 

jackass India and pakistan with their perennial internal weakness is hooked through the nose by forrin power ..major source of regional instability.
if those guys were co-operative all 3 would be invested in and benefitting from those ports

di'ze how I look at it anyway

http://stratrisks.com/geostrat/10675


In a decision raising fresh concern about China’s ambitions in South Asia and the Indian Ocean, Pakistan has agreed to hand over to Chinese control a deep-water port, strategically located near the mouth of the Persian Gulf.

The Pakistani cabinet decision to transfer management of Gwadar to a Chinese government-owned company closes a circle for Beijing, which put up most of the funding a decade ago to build the facility in the first place.

During the construction phase, China periodically dismissed reports that the port would be used for People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) activity, fears that appeared unfounded when upon the port’s completion in 2007, Pakistan signed an agreement with Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) International to run it for 40 years.

But Islamabad has complained about slow progress in expanding the operations and, six years later, has turned once again to its “all-weather friend,” China.

For China, whose Chinese Overseas Port Holdings will now run the port, Gwadar offers a host of advantages.

Currently most of China’s oil imports from the Gulf travel the long sea route through the Malacca Strait and the South China Sea. Gwadar, located just 250 miles from the Strait of Hormuz, could be the key to a new route for oil and other commodities, via pipeline, road and rail links through Pakistan, into western China. (Those same routes could benefit the land-locked republics of Central Asia, too.)

INDIA COULD HAVE BEEN INVESTED EARLY/INDIA AND PAK SHOULD BE CO-OPERATING


Gwadar also offers berthing and resupply facilities for Chinese ships, both commercial vessels and, possibly in the future, PLAN warships.

The move has stoked fears in India that China is pursuing a so-called “encirclement” policy, in collaboration with New Delhi’s historical arch-rival, Pakistan.

India’s Daily News and Analysis newspaper said in an editorial Monday that “few in India believe China” when it comes to its assurances about its Gwadar presence.

“India too depends ships and open shipping lanes for meeting most of its energy requirements; any threat to this shipping lane is a threat to India,” it said.