After the Trump administration decided to suspend $3 billion in security assistance to Pakistan, Washington has risked pushing Pakistan into the open arms of a number of other notable nations.
China has been a key ally for Pakistan in recent times and is almost certainly the reason why the USA has taken a sharp turn in its approach to dealing with the country, after the Bush administration was ought red handed funding Pakistani terrorist groups.
Now, China is assisting Pakistan’s Navy to expand rapidly, with the completion and delivery of four advanced warships currently under construction in Shanghai.
According to the Diplomat, Pakistan’s Chinese-made naval vessels will arrive through a bilateral arms agreement by 2021.
Worth over $348 million, these frigates have the capacity to act as anti-ship and anti-submarine operations, as well as for air defense.
Reports seem to indicate that these ships are to be stationed for defense and security in and around the Gwadar port.
This is the same port that many media outlets accused China of attempting to hijack and transform into its own naval base.
Perhaps the media sounding the alarm over these reports have helped convince China to try a subtler strategy of creating a naval presence around this strategic area.
But either way, the move to acquire Chinese naval ships is sure to irk the USA, irrespective of the end result, as some experts are predicting that this will lead to regular Sino-Pakistani patrols across the region.
As explained above, Saudi Arabia is not sitting idly by watching this project develop.
The Gwadar port is which Saudi Arabia is planning to establish a $10 billion oil refinery, according to the Saudi Energy Ministry, setting Saudi Arabia up as a key partner in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Just this week, the government of Pakistan announced a new visa regime between Pakistan and China, tourism being an area of Pakistan’s economy that China has already been contributing heavily.
Pakistani President Arif Alvi also just hailed the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), vowing that the scheme will bring economic prosperity to the two countries.
The CPEC is essentially a combination of infrastructure projects in Pakistan funded by Chinese loans which are worth at least $62 billion.
RT. com / ABC Flash Point Strategic Business News 2019.
