China moved one step closer to its plan for geopolitical dominance recently with the announced plans for a military base on the Jiwani peninsula in Pakistan.
The ‘String of Pearls’ plan involves a network of Chinese military and commercial facilities in the South China Sea and Indian Ocean.
India is most concerned about this development in the region. The country is encircled by Chinese military and commercial facilities. If the Chinese naval base comes up in Gwardar, Pakistan, that will be the last cog in the ‘string of pearls’ encircling India.
The ‘String of Pearls’ will allow China to keep open oil transfers to the homeland in times of emergency.
Lawrence Sellin at The Daily Caller reported:
On January 1, 2018, The Daily Caller published information — later confirmed in two separate reports, here and here — about a plan for a Chinese military base on the Jiwani peninsula in Pakistan, near Gwadar, a sea port critical to the success of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)…
…Strategically, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is their roadmap to geopolitical dominance. It is soft power with an underlying hard power, military component, the so-called “String of Pearls” bases and facilities.
A Chinese military base on the Jiwani peninsula will complement the Chinese base in Djibouti, which became operational in 2017. Both are located at strategic choke points. The Djibouti base is near the entrance to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, while the Jiwani base will be within easy reach of the Strait of Hormuz, a combination, not only capable of dominating vital sea lanes in the Arabian Sea, but boxing-in U.S bases in the Persian Gulf and outflanking the U.S. naval facility on Diego Garcia.
There is concern that the Chinese will transform its 99-year lease of the Sri Lankan port of Hambantota into another naval base, the exact “debt-trap” method the Chinese used in Djibouti and after its acquisition of a 40-year lease of the Pakistani port of Gwadar. There are also continuing Chinese diplomatic efforts to gain access to the Maldives.
All of the above represent elements of China’s “String of Pearls” bases to secure military dominance of the maritime component of BRI.
Read the whole thing here.
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